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FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle of Pakistan detained 258 foreign nationals from Sparco Plaza, Gulberg Greens, accusing nationals of China, Vietnam and Indonesia of reportedly operating an illegal call centre. Following the development, FIA DG Usman Anwar stated that a majority of the suspects allegedly disguised themselves as women on mobile applications and online platforms, developed contact with Pakistani citizens. He explained that the suspects would initially build trust with their victims before drawing them into fake business and investment opportunities, promising abnormally high returns. Once the victims wired their funds, the suspects would reportedly vanish or cut off all further contact.&nbsp;&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/israeli-minister-ben-gvir-calls-for-killing-30-40-people-in-gaza-every-night-iran-reacts-1786946991609">Israeli minister Ben-Gvir calls for 'killing 30-40 people in Gaza every night'; Iran reacts</a><h3>FIR filed under the Foreigners Act 1946 of Pakistan</h3>Out of 259 detained, 184 individuals were from Vietnam, 41 from China, 32 from Indonesia and one from Malaysia. All of them were running through the Integrated Border Management System, mostly entering through a visitor visa. In response, the FIR, numbered FIR/AHTC-GL-581/28 and dated 11 August 2026, was filed by the FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946. Several reports suggest that the individuals had developed “a huge call centre type business setup.” After the entire group were booked, their particulars were checked against the Integrated Border Management System. No difference was made between organisers, employees, or an individual whose presence may have been incidental. On the same day, 11 August 2026, the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory issued an unusual order officially designating SPARCO Plaza in Gulberg Greens as a "Sub-Jail/Lock-Up" to hold the 258 foreign nationals taken into custody by the FIA. Backed by Section 541 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Prisons Act 1894, the notification put full responsibility for securing the temporary facility and its detainees in the hands of the FIA's Director General — the very agency that had carried out the raid and filed the case. &nbsp;

Following the development, FIA DG Usman Anwar stated that a majority of the suspects allegedly disguised themselves as women on mobile applications and online platforms, and developed contact with Pakistani citizens. 

FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle of Pakistan detained 258 foreign nationals from Sparco Plaza, Gulberg Greens, accusing nationals of China, Vietnam and Indonesia of reportedly operating an illegal call centre. Following the development, FIA DG Usman Anwar stated that a majority of the suspects allegedly disguised themselves as women on mobile applications and online platforms, developed contact with Pakistani citizens. He explained that the suspects would initially build trust with their victims before drawing them into fake business and investment opportunities, promising abnormally high returns. Once the victims wired their funds, the suspects would reportedly vanish or cut off all further contact. Also read: Israeli minister Ben-Gvir calls for 'killing 30-40 people in Gaza every night'; Iran reacts FIR filed under the Foreigners Act 1946 of Pakistan Out of 259 detained, 184 individuals were from Vietnam, 41 from China, 32 from Indonesia and one from Malaysia. All of them were running through the Integrated Border Management System, mostly entering through a visitor visa. In response, the FIR, numbered FIR/AHTC-GL-581/28 and dated 11 August 2026, was filed by the FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946. Several reports suggest that the individuals had developed “a huge call centre type business setup.” After the entire group were booked, their particulars were checked against the Integrated Border Management System. No difference was made between organisers, employees, or an individual whose presence may have been incidental. On the same day, 11 August 2026, the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory issued an unusual order officially designating SPARCO Plaza in Gulberg Greens as a "Sub-Jail/Lock-Up" to hold the 258 foreign nationals taken into custody by the FIA. Backed by Section 541 of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Prisons Act 1894, the notification put full responsibility for securing the temporary facility and its detainees in the hands of the FIA's Director General — the very agency that had carried out the raid and filed the case.

Following the development, FIA DG Usman Anwar stated that a majority of the suspects allegedly disguised themselves as women on mobile applications and online platforms, and developed contact with Pakistani citizens.&nbsp;

41 Chinese among 258 foreigners arrested in Pakistan over fake investment call centre scam

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has made another shocking statement calling for genocide of Palestinians. In a podcast, he said that Israeli forces should “kill 30 or 40 people in Gaza every night" and go beyond “those who pose a danger at that particular moment.” He advocated for building Jewish settlements throughout the entirety of the Gaza Strip and called for the permanent, engineered mass emigration of the Palestinian population out of Gaza to other countries, while stating that "terrorists" should not be allowed to emigrate but rather be killed “one by one.” Ben-Gvir made the comments in a podcast by Rom Braslavski – a former Israeli captive held in Gaza.<blockquote>“There are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people,” Ben-Gvir added while calling for the targeted killings of Palestinians in Gaza. He renewed his long-standing push for Israeli re-occupation, saying, "I see all of Gaza as ours."</blockquote>

Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/they-can-t-catch-us-off-guard-iran-s-irgc-warns-us-israel-of-strategic-surprises-what-s-coming-1786940902003">‘They can’t catch us off-guard’: Iran’s IRGC warns US, Israel of ‘strategic surprises’. What’s coming?</a><h2>Long list of extreme statements by Ben Gvir</h2>The remarks are the latest in a long record of extreme statements from Ben-Gvir, who sits in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government and controls Israel’s police and prison services. In July 2026, he attended settler march and said: "There will be Jewish settlements in all of Gaza. And encouraging migration, and we will send them as needed to their countries. And we are returning home. Gaza is ours." In Aug 2025, during visit to Al Aqsa compound, Ben-Gvir called for the full military occupation and annexation of Gaza. He advocated for extending Israeli sovereignty over the territory while promoting the explicit expulsion of its Palestinian population. Previously in 2023, he had said, Ben-Gvir used sweeping language regarding who should be targeted in military actions. He stated, “When we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and those who hand out candy — they’re all terrorists, and they should also be destroyed.”&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/colombia-recognises-israel-s-claim-over-golan-heights-goes-against-decades-of-global-consensus-1786423878976">Colombia recognises Israel's claim over Golan Heights, goes against decades of global consensus</a><h2>Reaction on the comments</h2>Iran has condemned remarks by Ben-Gvir. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that such statements must be documented and preserved for future accountability and prosecution. “This Zionist criminal simultaneously speaks of expelling Palestinians and settlement construction throughout Gaza. These confessions must be recorded and preserved for the day of reckoning and trial of these criminals.”&nbsp;Reacting to the comments, a prominent Emirati businessman who championed normalisation with Israel has questioned whether regional peace can be achieved while Israeli ministers openly demand the mass killing of Palestinians. Khalaf Ahmad al-Habtoor, one of the UAE’s most prominent billionaires and a former member of the Federal National Council, accused Ben Gvir of a “dangerous moral decline. In a post on X, he said, "An Israeli government minister steps out before the world, openly and without shame, calling for the killing of 30 or 40 people in Gaza every night, and speaking of people as if they are ‘not deserving of life’! What mind can accept this rhetoric?”

Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for Israeli forces to kill 30-40 people in Gaza every night and advocated Jewish settlements and Palestinian displacement. Iran condemned the remarks

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has made another shocking statement calling for genocide of Palestinians. In a podcast, he said that Israeli forces should “kill 30 or 40 people in Gaza every night" and go beyond “those who pose a danger at that particular moment.” He advocated for building Jewish settlements throughout the entirety of the Gaza Strip and called for the permanent, engineered mass emigration of the Palestinian population out of Gaza to other countries, while stating that "terrorists" should not be allowed to emigrate but rather be killed “one by one.” Ben-Gvir made the comments in a podcast by Rom Braslavski – a former Israeli captive held in Gaza. “There are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people,” Ben-Gvir added while calling for the targeted killings of Palestinians in Gaza. He renewed his long-standing push for Israeli re-occupation, saying, "I see all of Gaza as ours."

Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for Israeli forces to kill 30-40 people in Gaza every night and advocated Jewish settlements and Palestinian displacement. Iran condemned the remarks

Israeli minister Ben-Gvir calls for 'killing 30-40 people in Gaza every night'; Iran reacts

Israel’s ruling Likud party has launched a billboard featuring New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, accusing the four of wanting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lose the upcoming October election.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-s-new-infiltration-bill-could-turn-foreign-contacts-into-crimes-journalists-and-others-face-prison-under-proposed-law-details-inside-1786935582385">Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside</a>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">אל תתנו להם לנצח <a href="https://t.co/JgvJXAPtia">pic.twitter.com/JgvJXAPtia</a>&mdash; Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) <a href="https://x.com/netanyahu/status/2089008064422691026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“They want Netanyahu to lose, don’t let them win,” the billboard says, urging voters not to allow the group to prevail. Netanyahu also reposted a photograph of the billboard on social media with the caption: “Don’t let them win.”&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/economic-isolation-like-never-seen-before-hormuz-blockade-continuation-us-treasury-secretary-s-fresh-threat-for-iran-1786686121642">‘Economic isolation like never seen before, Hormuz blockade continuation’: US Treasury Secretary’s fresh threat to Iran</a>&nbsp;Social media posts claimed the billboard was located in Jerusalem, but the advertisement is actually displayed in Tel Aviv overlooking the Ayalon Highway. The billboard has also drawn a mocking response from rival Israeli politicians and political parties, who created their own versions of the advertisement.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/treachery-of-puppet-rulers-iran-s-hardline-newspaper-rails-against-mecca-defence-pact-accuses-muslim-leaders-of-abandoning-palestinians-1786429230978">‘Treachery of puppet rulers’: Iran’s hardline newspaper rails against Mecca defence pact, accuses Muslim leaders of abandoning Palestinians</a>&nbsp;Yashar, the party led by former Israel Defence Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, posted a modified version reading: “They want the IDF to collapse, don’t let Netanyahu win.”&nbsp;The billboard comes ahead of Israel’s October election campaign, with Likud using Mamdani’s inclusion alongside senior Iranian, Turkish and Hezbollah figures to portray opposition to Netanyahu as aligned with his regional adversaries.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/we-are-not-having-negotiations-with-us-iran-denies-trump-s-claim-says-working-with-oman-on-temporary-hormuz-shipping-route-1785750172437">‘We are not having negotiations with US’: Iran denies Trump’s claim, says working with Oman on temporary Hormuz shipping route</a>&nbsp;

Israel’s Likud party launched a Tel Aviv billboard framing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Iranian, Turkish, and Hezbollah leaders as regional rivals who want Benjamin Netanyahu to lose October’s election.

Israel’s ruling Likud party has launched a billboard featuring New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, accusing the four of wanting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lose the upcoming October election. Also read: Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside

Israel’s Likud party launched a Tel Aviv billboard framing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside Iranian, Turkish, and Hezbollah leaders as regional rivals who want Benjamin Netanyahu to lose October’s election.

Netanyahu’s party puts Mamdani alongside Khamenei, Erdogan and Hezbollah chief in election ad

Another Israeli Air Force officer has been arrested on suspicion of breach of trust after allegedly placing bets on Polymarket linked to attacks in Iran and Yemen.&nbsp;Israeli news outlet N12 reported on Sunday (Aug 16) that the officer, an IAF major, is suspected of using sensitive information to place bets on the prediction market. He is expected to face a hearing over the allegations.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-s-new-infiltration-bill-could-turn-foreign-contacts-into-crimes-journalists-and-others-face-prison-under-proposed-law-details-inside-1786935582385">Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside</a>

&nbsp;The case follows earlier investigations involving Israeli military reservists accused of using classified information to bet on the timing of military operations through Polymarket. In those cases, suspects were indicted on more serious charges related to the alleged exploitation of classified military information.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/treachery-of-puppet-rulers-iran-s-hardline-newspaper-rails-against-mecca-defence-pact-accuses-muslim-leaders-of-abandoning-palestinians-1786429230978">‘Treachery of puppet rulers’: Iran’s hardline newspaper rails against Mecca defence pact, accuses Muslim leaders of abandoning Palestinians</a>&nbsp;Polymarket is a decentralised prediction market where users trade shares based on the expected outcomes of real-world events, including politics, economics and sports. Prices on the platform are shaped by trading activity and are often presented as crowd-sourced probabilities of an event occurring.&nbsp;The platform has also gained attention as a forecasting tool, with some experts arguing that prediction markets can at times provide more accurate estimates than traditional polling.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-owns-and-rules-this-waterway-tehran-warns-us-it-will-never-control-strait-of-hormuz-amid-trump-s-threat-1786785833003">‘Iran owns and rules this waterway’: Tehran warns US it will never control Strait of Hormuz amid Trump’s threat</a>&nbsp;In February, two suspects were arrested in a joint operation involving the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, a Defence Ministry investigative unit and the Israel Police. Investigators suspected that the reservists had used classified information obtained during their military service to place bets on the timing of military operations.&nbsp;

An Israeli Air Force major faces a hearing after being arrested for allegedly using classified military information to place bets on Polymarket regarding strikes in Iran and Yemen.  

Another Israeli Air Force officer has been arrested on suspicion of breach of trust after allegedly placing bets on Polymarket linked to attacks in Iran and Yemen. Israeli news outlet N12 reported on Sunday (Aug 16) that the officer, an IAF major, is suspected of using sensitive information to place bets on the prediction market. He is expected to face a hearing over the allegations. Also read: Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside

An Israeli Air Force major faces a hearing after being arrested for allegedly using classified military information to place bets on Polymarket regarding strikes in Iran and Yemen. &nbsp;

Israeli Air Force major arrested over Polymarket wagers on Iran, Yemen attacks

Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed that the Trump administration is discussing the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iran in high-level strategy meetings. But she has not provided any evidence to support this allegation. “They are discussing using nuclear weapons on Iran in strategy meetings,” Greene said in a post on X on Sunday (Aug 16). “It’s real. I’m not speculating, I know,” she added.Greene, who has previously opposed US military involvement in Iran, warned that any use of nuclear weapons could trigger a wider global conflict. She urged Americans to oppose the use of nuclear weapons and called for an end to the war.However, Greene’s claim has not been independently verified. There has been no public statement from the US government or official document identified that confirms Washington is considering nuclear strikes against Iran.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-s-new-infiltration-bill-could-turn-foreign-contacts-into-crimes-journalists-and-others-face-prison-under-proposed-law-details-inside-1786935582385">Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside</a>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">They are discussing using nuclear weapons on Iran in strategy meetings. Yes you read that correctly. It’s real. I’m not speculating, I know. And it’s pure evil. The last time a nuclear weapon was used was August 6th and 9th of 1945 on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and…&mdash; Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) <a href="https://x.com/FmrRepMTG/status/2089069623706603837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<h2>What US intelligence has said about Iran</h2>Previous US intelligence assessments have distinguished Iran’s nuclear capabilities from an active effort to build a nuclear weapon.The US intelligence community’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment said Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and that then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had not reauthorised the nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003.The 2026 Annual Threat Assessment said that, before Operation Epic Fury, Iran had been pursuing increasingly capable missile systems and had failed to comply with its nuclear obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including by denying access to key nuclear facilities.The assessment also said US intelligence agencies were monitoring Iran’s weapons of mass destruction-related capabilities and activities following the start of Operation Epic Fury.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-owns-and-rules-this-waterway-tehran-warns-us-it-will-never-control-strait-of-hormuz-amid-trump-s-threat-1786785833003">‘Iran owns and rules this waterway’: Tehran warns US it will never control Strait of Hormuz amid Trump’s threat</a><h2>Greene invokes Hiroshima, Nagasaki</h2>Greene also referred to the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 while warning about the potential consequences of any future nuclear attack. “The last time a nuclear weapon was used was August 6th and 9th of, 1945, on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” she said, citing the deaths and long-term suffering caused by the bombings.Greene said the consequences included radiation sickness, increased cancer rates and birth defects, and argued that the historical experience demonstrated why nuclear weapons should not be used again.&nbsp;

Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene alleged, without evidence, that the Trump administration is discussing nuclear strikes on Iran, warning of global conflict and citing the 1945 Japan bombings.

Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed that the Trump administration is discussing the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iran in high-level strategy meetings. But she has not provided any evidence to support this allegation. “They are discussing using nuclear weapons on Iran in strategy meetings,” Greene said in a post on X on Sunday (Aug 16). “It’s real. I’m not speculating, I know,” she added. Greene, who has previously opposed US military involvement in Iran, warned that any use of nuclear weapons could trigger a wider global conflict. She urged Americans to oppose the use of nuclear weapons and called for an end to the war. However, Greene’s claim has not been independently verified. There has been no public statement from the US government or official document identified that confirms Washington is considering nuclear strikes against Iran. Also read: Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside

Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene alleged, without evidence, that the Trump administration is discussing nuclear strikes on Iran, warning of global conflict and citing the 1945 Japan bombings.

‘Trump is planning to use nuclear weapons on Iran’: Marjorie Taylor Greene makes bombshell claim

Iran's military doctrine could shift from a primarily defensive posture towards a more proactive and potentially offensive approach, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official has warned, saying the country's adversaries should expect "strategic surprises".IRGC Political Deputy Brigadier General Yadollah Javani told Iranian state media that Iran's military actions so far had been defensive because Tehran was responding to attacks initiated by its adversaries. However, he said the nature of Iran's response could change in the future."The enemy has been the initiator of the war, and Iran's actions are defensive, but they may take on an offensive aspect in the future," Javani said, according to Iranian media reports.Javani said Iran's armed forces would adopt what he described as "transformative approaches" and take necessary measures at the appropriate time to defend the country and neutralise threats.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-owns-and-rules-this-waterway-tehran-warns-us-it-will-never-control-strait-of-hormuz-amid-trump-s-threat-1786785833003">‘Iran owns and rules this waterway’: Tehran warns US it will never control Strait of Hormuz amid Trump’s threat</a>The remarks suggest a possible shift in how Tehran defines deterrence, with defensive operations potentially involving proactive action to neutralise perceived threats before they can directly target Iran.Javani also referred to the mandate given to Iran's new commander-in-chief, Major-General Ahmad Vahidi, saying the military leadership had emphasised achieving "maximum deterrence".Under such an approach, defensive action could take on an offensive character by seeking to neutralise threats proactively, Al Jazeera reported."The enemy should know that it cannot catch us off-guard," Javani said, adding that Iran's adversaries would instead have to "anticipate strategic surprises"."Whatever is necessary to defend this land, ensure security, and neutralise enemy threats will be executed at the appropriate time," he said.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-s-new-infiltration-bill-could-turn-foreign-contacts-into-crimes-journalists-and-others-face-prison-under-proposed-law-details-inside-1786935582385">Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside</a>The comments come amid heightened tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel following the recent conflict. Tehran has maintained that its military actions were responses to attacks, while US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iranian military infrastructure was destroyed during the conflict.Javani's remarks do not spell out what specific military measures Iran could adopt, but they signal that Tehran may be considering a broader interpretation of deterrence as it reassesses its military strategy following the latest confrontation.

Iran’s IRGC warned the US and Israel of a potential shift from a defensive military posture to proactive, offensive actions and strategic surprises to achieve maximum deterrence against future threats.

Iran's military doctrine could shift from a primarily defensive posture towards a more proactive and potentially offensive approach, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official has warned, saying the country's adversaries should expect "strategic surprises". IRGC Political Deputy Brigadier General Yadollah Javani told Iranian state media that Iran's military actions so far had been defensive because Tehran was responding to attacks initiated by its adversaries. However, he said the nature of Iran's response could change in the future. "The enemy has been the initiator of the war, and Iran's actions are defensive, but they may take on an offensive aspect in the future," Javani said, according to Iranian media reports. Javani said Iran's armed forces would adopt what he described as "transformative approaches" and take necessary measures at the appropriate time to defend the country and neutralise threats. Also read: ‘Iran owns and rules this waterway’: Tehran warns US it will never control Strait of Hormuz amid Trump’s threat The remarks suggest a possible shift in how Tehran defines deterrence, with defensive operations potentially involving proactive action to neutralise perceived threats before they can directly target Iran. Javani also referred to the mandate given to Iran's new commander-in-chief, Major-General Ahmad Vahidi, saying the military leadership had emphasised achieving "maximum deterrence". Under such an approach, defensive action could take on an offensive character by seeking to neutralise threats proactively, Al Jazeera reported. "The enemy should know that it cannot catch us off-guard," Javani said, adding that Iran's adversaries would instead have to "anticipate strategic surprises". "Whatever is necessary to defend this land, ensure security, and neutralise enemy threats will be executed at the appropriate time," he said. Also read: Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under proposed law. Details inside The comments come amid heightened tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel following the recent conflict. Tehran has maintained that its military actions were responses to attacks, while US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Iranian military infrastructure was destroyed during the conflict. Javani's remarks do not spell out what specific military measures Iran could adopt, but they signal that Tehran may be considering a broader interpretation of deterrence as it reassesses its military strategy following the latest confrontation.

Iran’s IRGC warned the US and Israel of a potential shift from a defensive military posture to proactive, offensive actions and strategic surprises to achieve maximum deterrence against future threats.

‘They can’t catch us off-guard’: Iran’s IRGC warns US, Israel of ‘strategic surprises’. What’s coming?

Indian-origin billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal mining and metallurgical complex in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine’s largest integrated steel unit, was hit by a Russian missile strike, damaging key energy infrastructure and blast-furnace operations and forcing a partial halt to production.The attack on the steel complex came after Ukraine launched one of its largest drone barrages against Russia, with hundreds of drones targeting several regions across the country. At least six people were killed in the attacks, according to Russian officials.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/from-ukraine-to-gaza-how-modern-war-is-erasing-human-history-gravitas-1786728828308">From Ukraine to Gaza: How modern war is erasing human history | GRAVITAS</a>Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had intercepted 822 Ukrainian drones overnight, describing the barrage as a major aerial assault. Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov called it “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory”.Vorobyov said an 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone struck a private home in the Moscow region. Another attack triggered a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in Podolsk. Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer and is controlled by billionaire Tatyana Kim, the country’s richest woman.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-seeks-us-turkey-answers-over-reported-ukraine-weapons-transfer-as-kyiv-intensifies-strikes-1786814841264">Russia seeks US, Turkey answers over reported Ukraine weapons transfer as Kyiv intensifies strikes</a>Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 600 drones had been detected heading towards the Russian capital, with about a third of them destroyed over the Moscow region.In Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, another Ukrainian drone attack killed five people, Governor Yury Slyusar said. More than 150 drones were involved in the attack, which damaged several homes and a railway station and sparked a forest fire.The attacks came as Ukraine has intensified its long-range strikes on Russian territory this year, using drones and missiles to target military industries, energy infrastructure and logistics facilities. Kyiv has increasingly sought to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its war effort by striking targets far beyond the front line.

A Russian missile strike damaged Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, halting production following a massive Ukrainian drone assault targeting Moscow and Rostov regions.

Indian-origin billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal mining and metallurgical complex in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine’s largest integrated steel unit, was hit by a Russian missile strike, damaging key energy infrastructure and blast-furnace operations and forcing a partial halt to production. The attack on the steel complex came after Ukraine launched one of its largest drone barrages against Russia, with hundreds of drones targeting several regions across the country. At least six people were killed in the attacks, according to Russian officials. Also read: From Ukraine to Gaza: How modern war is erasing human history | GRAVITAS Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had intercepted 822 Ukrainian drones overnight, describing the barrage as a major aerial assault. Moscow region Governor Andrey Vorobyov called it “one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory”. Vorobyov said an 83-year-old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone struck a private home in the Moscow region. Another attack triggered a fire at a Wildberries warehouse in Podolsk. Wildberries is Russia’s largest online retailer and is controlled by billionaire Tatyana Kim, the country’s richest woman. Also read: Russia seeks US, Turkey answers over reported Ukraine weapons transfer as Kyiv intensifies strikes Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 600 drones had been detected heading towards the Russian capital, with about a third of them destroyed over the Moscow region. In Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, another Ukrainian drone attack killed five people, Governor Yury Slyusar said. More than 150 drones were involved in the attack, which damaged several homes and a railway station and sparked a forest fire. The attacks came as Ukraine has intensified its long-range strikes on Russian territory this year, using drones and missiles to target military industries, energy infrastructure and logistics facilities. Kyiv has increasingly sought to disrupt Russia’s ability to sustain its war effort by striking targets far beyond the front line.

A Russian missile strike damaged Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, halting production following a massive Ukrainian drone assault targeting Moscow and Rostov regions.

Lakshmi Mittal's steel giant hit in Zelensky's hometown as Russia strikes back after drone blitz

Iranian lawmakers have advanced a sweeping bill that could criminalise a wide range of interactions with foreign media, universities, embassies and organisations, giving authorities broader powers to prosecute what they consider foreign infiltration.The Iranian parliament approved the general framework of the legislation on Sunday (Aug 16). However, the bill's current text has not been made public, and lawmakers have yet to approve its individual provisions. The final legislation could therefore differ significantly from the latest publicly available draft.That draft, which contains 19 articles, outlines prison terms, professional restrictions and other penalties covering journalism, academia, civil society, culture and communications with foreign individuals and organisations.The legislation comes as Iranian authorities have intensified scrutiny and prosecutions over alleged links to foreign governments and media, particularly amid heightened tensions with the United States and Israel.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/economic-isolation-like-never-seen-before-hormuz-blockade-continuation-us-treasury-secretary-s-fresh-threat-for-iran-1786686121642">‘Economic isolation like never seen before, Hormuz blockade continuation’: US Treasury Secretary’s fresh threat to Iran</a><h2>What could become a crime?</h2>One of the most far-reaching provisions is Article 7, which would prohibit sending messages, photographs, videos, audio recordings or other data to non-Iranian media organisations or individuals involved in media activities abroad.Those found guilty could face prison terms, with tougher punishment possible if the communication was linked to employment, deemed intended to undermine national security or took place during a period of what the bill describes as “crisis,” “unrest” or “rioting”.Article 6 would separately restrict communication with media outlets classified as hostile, including American or Israeli-funded organisations.Communication with other foreign media would require notification through a system overseen by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Failure to make the required notification could itself result in imprisonment.The provisions could have significant implications for journalists, academics, researchers and ordinary Iranians who communicate with people or organisations outside the country.<h2>Foreign universities, academic ties under scrutiny</h2>The bill would also place tighter controls on international academic cooperation.Under Article 5, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry would publish an annual list of foreign governments, universities and institutions approved for scholarships, academic agreements, conferences and scientific cooperation.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-knew-trump-s-exact-ankara-location-as-us-detected-missile-threat-against-air-force-one-report-1786503749706">Iran knew Trump’s exact Ankara location as US detected missile threat against Air Force One: Report</a>Cooperation with institutions not included on the list could result in imprisonment. The same could apply to sending medical, scientific or archaeological samples to unauthorised institutions.The measure would effectively give the authorities greater control over which international academic partnerships are permitted.

Iran's parliament approved the framework of an infiltration bill criminalising unauthorised communication with foreign media, universities, and institutions, punishable by imprisonment for journalists, academics, and citizens.



Iranian lawmakers have advanced a sweeping bill that could criminalise a wide range of interactions with foreign media, universities, embassies and organisations, giving authorities broader powers to prosecute what they consider foreign infiltration. The Iranian parliament approved the general framework of the legislation on Sunday (Aug 16). However, the bill's current text has not been made public, and lawmakers have yet to approve its individual provisions. The final legislation could therefore differ significantly from the latest publicly available draft. That draft, which contains 19 articles, outlines prison terms, professional restrictions and other penalties covering journalism, academia, civil society, culture and communications with foreign individuals and organisations. The legislation comes as Iranian authorities have intensified scrutiny and prosecutions over alleged links to foreign governments and media, particularly amid heightened tensions with the United States and Israel. Also read: ‘Economic isolation like never seen before, Hormuz blockade continuation’: US Treasury Secretary’s fresh threat to Iran What could become a crime? One of the most far-reaching provisions is Article 7, which would prohibit sending messages, photographs, videos, audio recordings or other data to non-Iranian media organisations or individuals involved in media activities abroad. Those found guilty could face prison terms, with tougher punishment possible if the communication was linked to employment, deemed intended to undermine national security or took place during a period of what the bill describes as “crisis,” “unrest” or “rioting”. Article 6 would separately restrict communication with media outlets classified as hostile, including American or Israeli-funded organisations. Communication with other foreign media would require notification through a system overseen by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Failure to make the required notification could itself result in imprisonment. The provisions could have significant implications for journalists, academics, researchers and ordinary Iranians who communicate with people or organisations outside the country. Foreign universities, academic ties under scrutiny The bill would also place tighter controls on international academic cooperation. Under Article 5, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry would publish an annual list of foreign governments, universities and institutions approved for scholarships, academic agreements, conferences and scientific cooperation. Also read: Iran knew Trump’s exact Ankara location as US detected missile threat against Air Force One: Report Cooperation with institutions not included on the list could result in imprisonment. The same could apply to sending medical, scientific or archaeological samples to unauthorised institutions. The measure would effectively give the authorities greater control over which international academic partnerships are permitted.

Iran's parliament approved the framework of an infiltration bill criminalising unauthorised communication with foreign media, universities, and institutions, punishable by imprisonment for journalists, academics, and citizens.&nbsp;

What's inside Iran’s new ‘infiltration’ bill that could turn foreign contacts into crimes: Journalists and others face prison under this law

Even as US Central Command has responded to the reports of poor conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln, the videos highlighting the situation keeps surfacing on internet. A new video allegedly by a sailor published in a TikTok, purportedly show the overflowing toilets aboard the aircraft carrier. Another set of images allegedly show the quality of food aboard USS George Washington. Yet another video allegedly shows dirty bathroom floor, corroded pipes and a toilet containing brownish liquid aboard USS George Washington. the US Navy has not responded on the development yet and the authenticity of the videos are not known.&nbsp;&nbsp;In the video, the sailor describing the conditions as “atrocious.” "Y'all expect me to take a doo-doo in this, y'all? Nah," the alleged sailor can be heard saying in the footage while showing the toilets. "Come on now, right? Join the navy, all right? Join the navy," he said sarcastically. "This is what we go through on the carrier. This ain't even the worst part," he said.&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">WATCH: A sailor&#39;s viral video shows filthy bathrooms on what&#39;s reported to be the USS Abraham Lincoln. Stained showers, grimy floors, and clogged toilets. &quot;Join the Navy, though, right?&quot; he says sarcastically. <a href="https://t.co/ItjvNpDX0o">pic.twitter.com/ItjvNpDX0o</a>&mdash; Clash Report (@clashreport) <a href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/2088943458778046871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In addition, text messages attributed to another sailor aboard USS George Washington describe the alleged food shortages onboard, saying that they "haven't had anything fresh but meat cause it's freezed." "The supply ship that comes here can't bring fruits and stuff cause it can't stay fresh enough with the time it gets them to get here. Sometimes it gets here rotten. The Navy does not care," the alleged sailor wrote.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260817/image-1786931982131.png"></figure>&nbsp;Another set of images, shared by author and investigator Seth Harp, is allegedly from USS George Washington and is described as “moldy old” following the carrier's nearly six-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn1.wionews.com/prod/wion/images/2026/20260817/image-1786932022520.png"></figure>&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/centcom-chief-breaks-silence-on-mental-health-issues-among-uss-abraham-lincoln-troops-days-after-calling-reports-fake-1786927568441">CENTCOM chief breaks silence on mental health issues among USS Abraham Lincoln troops days after calling reports ‘fake’</a><h2>CENTCOM responds to viral claims</h2>It was only after these videos went viral and media scrutiny began on the same that US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper broke his silence on the reports. He said thar mental health issues of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are the “lowest” compared to Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers. Acknowledging the previous reports in a way, Cooper called it “challenging and tough” for all service members, and that even he “reacts to stressors in different ways.”&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/very-good-relationship-with-kim-trump-substantially-reduces-joint-military-exercises-with-south-korea-1786926915050">Trump 'substantially reduces' joint military exercises with South Korea</a>&nbsp;“Here’s an important fact: Of the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health. This doesn’t mean that all is perfect," Cooper said. “I’ve long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health,” he continued.<h2>How the news unfolded and how the Trump administration reacted?</h2>This comes after recent reports about the Lincoln prompted congressional Democrats to launch inquiries into the mental and physical states of crew members along with the federal government’s response. On Aug 14, after the reports came out, the US CENTCOM attempted to call them fake. In a post on X, it said, “The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended. No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered. The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln's historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones.” When the matter refused to die down with more and more sailor's kin speaking up, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced that the ship was returning home. The Lincoln’s deployment, that started in January this year, was initially intended to end in May before it was extended to its current tenure.&nbsp;

Viral footage and sailor messages have raised concerns over poor conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, including allegedly dirty bathrooms and food shortages. New images purportedly also shows similar conditions aboard the USS George Washington

Even as US Central Command has responded to the reports of poor conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln, the videos highlighting the situation keeps surfacing on internet. A new video allegedly by a sailor published in a TikTok, purportedly show the overflowing toilets aboard the aircraft carrier. Another set of images allegedly show the quality of food aboard USS George Washington. Yet another video allegedly shows dirty bathroom floor, corroded pipes and a toilet containing brownish liquid aboard USS George Washington. the US Navy has not responded on the development yet and the authenticity of the videos are not known. In the video, the sailor describing the conditions as “atrocious.” "Y'all expect me to take a doo-doo in this, y'all? Nah," the alleged sailor can be heard saying in the footage while showing the toilets. "Come on now, right? Join the navy, all right? Join the navy," he said sarcastically. "This is what we go through on the carrier. This ain't even the worst part," he said.

Viral footage and sailor messages have raised concerns over poor conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, including allegedly dirty bathrooms and food shortages. New images purportedly also shows similar conditions aboard the USS George Washington

Clogged toilets, rotten food: Viral video allegedly shows condition of US aircraft carriers in West Asia | WATCH

US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper on Sunday (Aug 16) broke his silence on reports claiming mental health issues of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and said that the carrier has the lowest number of cases compared to Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers. In a statement, Cooper said that he visited USS Abraham Lincoln during his trip to West Asia and described it as “awe-inspiring", adding that Americans would “beam with pride” over the work carried out while onboard. Acknowleding the previous reports in a way, Cooper called it “challenging and tough” for all service members, and that even he “reacts to stressors in different ways.”&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/toilets-out-of-service-uss-abraham-lincoln-to-return-after-250-days-but-trump-says-not-long-enough-1786844420465">'Toilets out of service': USS Abraham Lincoln to return after 250 days</a>&nbsp;“Here’s an important fact: Of the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health. This doesn’t mean that all is perfect. Find any of the nearly 4 million Navy veterans in America today and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn’t for everyone.” He added, “I’ve long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health,” he continued. “I applaud Lincoln’s leadership –– the senior enlisted leaders in the Chief Petty Officers Mess in particular –– for stepping up and making mental health and crew resilience a leadership priority.”<h2>Democrats' concern</h2>This comes after recent reports about the Lincoln prompted congressional Democrats to launch inquiries into the&nbsp;mental and physical states of crew members along with&nbsp;the federal government’s response. Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, blamed the pressures mounting on sailors on President Trump’s unresolved war. “I was just speaking to a [USS Lincoln crew member’s] spouse just about three days ago, and this is the current problem right now,” Gallego, a retired US marine, told ABC News. “The deep, deep, deep problem here is that this administration did not plan for this war, did not plan how to get out of this war [and] did not really understand how this war was going to escalate.”<h2>CENTCOM attempted to bury mental health concerns despite&nbsp;</h2>On Aug 14, after the reports came out, the US CENTCOM attempted to call them fake. In a post on X, it said, “The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended. No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered. The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln's historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones.” When the matter refused to die down with more and more sailor's kin speaking up, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced that the ship was returning home. The Lincoln’s deployment, that started in January this year, was initially intended to end in May before it was extended to its current tenure.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-middle-east-commander-visits-uss-lincoln-amid-iran-war-gaza-and-lebanon-tensions-1786882278296">US top commander visits USS Lincoln amid Iran war</a><h2>What were the reports about USS Abraham Lincoln</h2>A report by CNN claimed that sailors attempted to jump off the carrier amid severe mental health issues. It cited sailors and their families saying that toilets and water fountains had frequently been out of service, and that hot water was often unavailable. A sailor told CNN that everyday they are “desperately hoping and anxious for updates on our return.” Another sailor said that some items from the ship’s store had become subject to limits and that “hardly any hygiene products are readily available.”&nbsp;However, US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns over the prolonged deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying its more than eight-month mission at sea was “not nearly long enough”. When he was asked if the deployment had gone on too long, Trump said, “No, no, no. Not nearly long enough.” “That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump said, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.

USS Abraham Lincoln is returning to San Diego after more than 260 days in the West Asia. CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper defended crew welfare amid reports of poor conditions and mental health issues

US Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Admiral Brad Cooper on Sunday (Aug 16) broke his silence on reports claiming mental health issues of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and said that the carrier has the lowest number of cases compared to Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers. In a statement, Cooper said that he visited USS Abraham Lincoln during his trip to West Asia and described it as “awe-inspiring", adding that Americans would “beam with pride” over the work carried out while onboard. Acknowleding the previous reports in a way, Cooper called it “challenging and tough” for all service members, and that even he “reacts to stressors in different ways.” Also Read: 'Toilets out of service': USS Abraham Lincoln to return after 250 days “Here’s an important fact: Of the Navy’s 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health. This doesn’t mean that all is perfect. Find any of the nearly 4 million Navy veterans in America today and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn’t for everyone.” He added, “I’ve long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health,” he continued. “I applaud Lincoln’s leadership –– the senior enlisted leaders in the Chief Petty Officers Mess in particular –– for stepping up and making mental health and crew resilience a leadership priority.” Democrats' concern This comes after recent reports about the Lincoln prompted congressional Democrats to launch inquiries into the mental and physical states of crew members along with the federal government’s response. Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, blamed the pressures mounting on sailors on President Trump’s unresolved war. “I was just speaking to a [USS Lincoln crew member’s] spouse just about three days ago, and this is the current problem right now,” Gallego, a retired US marine, told ABC News. “The deep, deep, deep problem here is that this administration did not plan for this war, did not plan how to get out of this war [and] did not really understand how this war was going to escalate.” CENTCOM attempted to bury mental health concerns despite On Aug 14, after the reports came out, the US CENTCOM attempted to call them fake. In a post on X, it said, “The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended. No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died, and the one Sailor who fell overboard Aug. 3 was quickly and safely recovered. The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln's historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones.” When the matter refused to die down with more and more sailor's kin speaking up, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced that the ship was returning home. The Lincoln’s deployment, that started in January this year, was initially intended to end in May before it was extended to its current tenure. Also Read: US top commander visits USS Lincoln amid Iran war What were the reports about USS Abraham Lincoln A report by CNN claimed that sailors attempted to jump off the carrier amid severe mental health issues. It cited sailors and their families saying that toilets and water fountains had frequently been out of service, and that hot water was often unavailable. A sailor told CNN that everyday they are “desperately hoping and anxious for updates on our return.” Another sailor said that some items from the ship’s store had become subject to limits and that “hardly any hygiene products are readily available.” However, US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns over the prolonged deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying its more than eight-month mission at sea was “not nearly long enough”. When he was asked if the deployment had gone on too long, Trump said, “No, no, no. Not nearly long enough.” “That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump said, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.

USS Abraham Lincoln is returning to San Diego after more than 260 days in the West Asia. CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper defended crew welfare amid reports of poor conditions and mental health issues and Democrats' outrage

CENTCOM chief breaks silence on mental health issues among USS Abraham Lincoln after Democrats’ outrage

In a big announcement, United States President Donald Trump on Aug 17 (local time) has said the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. In a Truth Social post, he also added that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the "denuclearisation" of Iran. He said that these exercise costs a lot to the US. However, responding on the matter, Seoul said that the drills with the US would proceed "as scheduled". Trump's announcement comes a day after Trump posted a picture with Kim Jong Un and joked about their "unfriendly look" while reaffirming that the two get along well.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/north-korea-tests-cruise-missile-as-us-moves-thaad-interceptors-out-of-south-korea-to-west-asia-for-iran-war-annual-springtime-military-drills-1773219764006">North Korea's message to US amid Iran war? Kim tests cruise missile as America moves THAAD system out of S Korea: What's happening</a>&nbsp;"Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, “No thanks!” Thank you for your attention to this matter," Trump posted.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/-weapon-will-immediately-used-north-korea-warning-to-us-amid-iran-war-kim-jong-un-conducts-drills-with-600mm-rocket-launchers-south-korea-trump-1773526925082">'Weapon will be used immediately...’: North Korea sends BIG message to US</a>&nbsp;It was only last week that the US and South Korean military leaders held a joint press conference announcing Ulchi Freedom Shield. After Trump's annoucement, South Korea and the US shortened the duration of their joint military drills. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the drills will be cut from 11 days to five and will now end on August 21.

Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the high costs of the drills.

In a big announcement, United States President Donald Trump on Aug 17 (local time) has said the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. In a Truth Social post, he also added that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the "denuclearisation" of Iran. He said that these exercise costs a lot to the US. However, responding on the matter, Seoul said that the drills with the US would proceed "as scheduled". Trump's announcement comes a day after Trump posted a picture with Kim Jong Un and joked about their "unfriendly look" while reaffirming that the two get along well. Also Read: North Korea's message to US amid Iran war? Kim tests cruise missile as America moves THAAD system out of S Korea: What's happening "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises! While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, “No thanks!” Thank you for your attention to this matter," Trump posted. Also Read: 'Weapon will be used immediately...’: North Korea sends BIG message to US It was only last week that the US and South Korean military leaders held a joint press conference announcing Ulchi Freedom Shield. After Trump's annoucement, South Korea and the US shortened the duration of their joint military drills. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the drills will be cut from 11 days to five and will now end on August 21.

Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the high costs of the drills.

'Very good relationship with Kim...': Trump 'substantially reduces' joint military exercises with South Korea

Almost every AI story this year has been about language — models that write, code, converse or reason in text. Nvidia's research organisation has been working on something else, and it is worth understanding because it is where robotics actually comes from.&nbsp;What Was Presented&nbsp;At SIGGRAPH, Nvidia research and engineering leaders delivered a keynote titled ‘Next Era of Graphics — Neural Rendering, World Models, and Simulation’, presented by Neil Ashton, Ming-Yu Liu and Edward Liu.&nbsp;The credentials indicate the seriousness. Ashton is a distinguished engineer working on AI physics and agentic AI for computational engineering. Ming-Yu Liu is an IEEE fellow who leads Nvidia's Cosmos Lab, advancing world foundation models and generative AI for physical AI. Edward Liu directs applied deep learning research, including the DLSS technology suite and neural rendering.&nbsp;The presentation covered advances in neural rendering, progress on world models, and new simulation methods — and how those are changing the way digital environments are built and used across creative tools, industrial design, robotics and autonomous systems.&nbsp;What A World Model Actually Is&nbsp;The term is used loosely, so it is worth being precise.&nbsp;A language model predicts the next token in a sequence of text. A world model predicts the next state of a physical environment — what happens if this object is pushed, how this material deforms, where this vehicle ends up given its speed and the road surface. It is a learned simulation of physical reality rather than of language.&nbsp;That capability is the bottleneck in robotics, and it explains why robots remain far behind chatbots. A language model that produces a wrong sentence costs nothing. A robot that misjudges the weight of an object drops it. Physical tasks require a model of consequences, and consequences in the physical world are unforgiving in a way text is not.&nbsp;World models are also how robots can be trained without breaking things. A simulated environment accurate enough to be useful lets a robot attempt a task millions of times in software before it touches physical hardware — which is the only economically viable way to train systems that would otherwise destroy expensive equipment learning.&nbsp;Neural Rendering And Why It Connects&nbsp;Neural rendering is the graphics side of the same problem: using learned models to generate images rather than computing every light ray through traditional rendering pipelines.&nbsp;It matters for world models because a simulation is only useful if it looks and behaves enough like reality that skills learned inside it transfer outside it. Better rendering makes better training environments, which makes better robots. The graphics research and the robotics research are the same research.&nbsp;The Strategic Position&nbsp;This is Nvidia investing in the next constraint rather than the current one.&nbsp;The company's revenue today comes from data centre GPUs training and serving language models. That market is enormous and, for now, supply-constrained. But it is also where all the competitive pressure sits — Qualcomm bought Modular to attack the CUDA software moat, AMD has gigawatt commitments from OpenAI and Meta, hyperscalers are shipping custom silicon, and Chinese laboratories are producing frontier-class models at a fraction of the cost.&nbsp;Physical AI is a different position. Hyundai is developing its Atlas humanoid with Nvidia and Google DeepMind as partners, targeting factory deployment in Georgia in 2028. Google DeepMind released Gemini Robotics 2 with an on-device variant that runs without a cloud connection. The United States banned imports of new Chinese humanoid robots in July, closing that market to Unitree and AgiBot, who between them shipped the majority of the world's humanoids in 2025.&nbsp;That last item created a protected domestic market and a gap in it. Western robotics has lagged badly on unit volume and cost, and the constraint has been less mechanical than cognitive — building a machine that can perceive an unstructured environment, plan a task and execute it physically has proven far harder than building the body.&nbsp;World models are the attempt to solve that. If they work, the company supplying them occupies the same position in robotics that it currently occupies in language models — and Nvidia is building both the models and the hardware they run on.

While the industry argues about chatbots, Nvidia's research organisation is building neural rendering, world models and simulation — presented at SIGGRAPH by its Cosmos Lab and deep learning leaders, targeting robotics and autonomous systems rather than text.

Almost every AI story this year has been about language — models that write, code, converse or reason in text. Nvidia's research organisation has been working on something else, and it is worth understanding because it is where robotics actually comes from. What Was Presented At SIGGRAPH, Nvidia research and engineering leaders delivered a keynote titled ‘Next Era of Graphics — Neural Rendering, World Models, and Simulation’, presented by Neil Ashton, Ming-Yu Liu and Edward Liu. The credentials indicate the seriousness. Ashton is a distinguished engineer working on AI physics and agentic AI for computational engineering. Ming-Yu Liu is an IEEE fellow who leads Nvidia's Cosmos Lab, advancing world foundation models and generative AI for physical AI. Edward Liu directs applied deep learning research, including the DLSS technology suite and neural rendering. The presentation covered advances in neural rendering, progress on world models, and new simulation methods — and how those are changing the way digital environments are built and used across creative tools, industrial design, robotics and autonomous systems. What A World Model Actually Is The term is used loosely, so it is worth being precise. A language model predicts the next token in a sequence of text. A world model predicts the next state of a physical environment — what happens if this object is pushed, how this material deforms, where this vehicle ends up given its speed and the road surface. It is a learned simulation of physical reality rather than of language. That capability is the bottleneck in robotics, and it explains why robots remain far behind chatbots. A language model that produces a wrong sentence costs nothing. A robot that misjudges the weight of an object drops it. Physical tasks require a model of consequences, and consequences in the physical world are unforgiving in a way text is not. World models are also how robots can be trained without breaking things. A simulated environment accurate enough to be useful lets a robot attempt a task millions of times in software before it touches physical hardware — which is the only economically viable way to train systems that would otherwise destroy expensive equipment learning. Neural Rendering And Why It Connects Neural rendering is the graphics side of the same problem: using learned models to generate images rather than computing every light ray through traditional rendering pipelines. It matters for world models because a simulation is only useful if it looks and behaves enough like reality that skills learned inside it transfer outside it. Better rendering makes better training environments, which makes better robots. The graphics research and the robotics research are the same research. The Strategic Position This is Nvidia investing in the next constraint rather than the current one. The company's revenue today comes from data centre GPUs training and serving language models. That market is enormous and, for now, supply-constrained. But it is also where all the competitive pressure sits — Qualcomm bought Modular to attack the CUDA software moat, AMD has gigawatt commitments from OpenAI and Meta, hyperscalers are shipping custom silicon, and Chinese laboratories are producing frontier-class models at a fraction of the cost. Physical AI is a different position. Hyundai is developing its Atlas humanoid with Nvidia and Google DeepMind as partners, targeting factory deployment in Georgia in 2028. Google DeepMind released Gemini Robotics 2 with an on-device variant that runs without a cloud connection. The United States banned imports of new Chinese humanoid robots in July, closing that market to Unitree and AgiBot, who between them shipped the majority of the world's humanoids in 2025. That last item created a protected domestic market and a gap in it. Western robotics has lagged badly on unit volume and cost, and the constraint has been less mechanical than cognitive — building a machine that can perceive an unstructured environment, plan a task and execute it physically has proven far harder than building the body. World models are the attempt to solve that. If they work, the company supplying them occupies the same position in robotics that it currently occupies in language models — and Nvidia is building both the models and the hardware they run on.

While the AI industry argues about chatbots and coding agents, Nvidia's research organisation has been building in a different direction: neural rendering, world models and simulation. Presented at SIGGRAPH by leaders of its Cosmos Lab and deep learning research groups, the work targets robotics, autonomous systems and industrial design rather than text.

Nvidia's Side Bet: Teaching AI to understand the physical world, not just language

Google's Gemini app has passed a billion monthly active users. It is the fastest-growing product in the company's history, and the number is smaller than it will sound in most coverage.&nbsp;The Milestone&nbsp;Google confirmed this week that the Gemini app crossed one billion monthly active users, adding a fourteenth product to the company's list of services at that scale.&nbsp;The trajectory is genuinely steep. Gemini had roughly 400 million monthly users when Google announced the figure at I/O in 2025. That reached 750 million earlier this year, 900 million by May, 950 million by late July, and one billion this week — the last 50 million arriving in under a fortnight.&nbsp;Two Caveats That Change The Reading&nbsp;Gemini chief Josh Woodward clarified something important, and it deserves more prominence than it will get.&nbsp;The billion figure covers the Gemini app experience only — web, Android, iOS and Gemini in Chrome. It does not include the very large number of people encountering Gemini models inside Search, Gmail and other Google products. That is the conservative way to count, and Google chose it.&nbsp;The second caveat cuts the other way. ChatGPT reportedly reached a billion users in June, but that is a weekly active figure. Gemini's is monthly. A monthly active user might open the app once in thirty days; a weekly active user is returning at least four times as often. The two numbers describe genuinely different levels of engagement, and comparing them directly overstates how close the products are.&nbsp;What The Number Does Prove&nbsp;Distribution. That is the whole story, and it is not a small one.&nbsp;Google did not have to persuade a billion people to seek out an AI product. It had Android, Chrome, a search engine most of the planet uses, and the ability to place Gemini in front of users who were already there. OpenAI built ChatGPT's audience from nothing, on the strength of the product alone. Google assembled its audience partly by owning the surfaces the audience already stood on.&nbsp;That is a structural advantage no amount of model quality compensates for, and it is why the frontier laboratories have been so focused on distribution deals of their own — Anthropic's enterprise partnerships, OpenAI making ChatGPT unlimited and free for its billion weekly users this month specifically to defend that base.&nbsp;The Awkward Timing&nbsp;The milestone lands in a difficult fortnight for Google's AI organisation.&nbsp;Demis Hassabis stepped back from running Google DeepMind day to day, becoming Chair of DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, with Koray Kavukcuoglu taking operational control. On the same day, Jeff Dean left after 27 years — taking Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals and Quoc Le with him to launch Discovery Loop. Alphabet stock fell roughly 5 per cent.&nbsp;Google has also been visibly behind on model releases, shipping Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and the government-restricted 3.5 Flash Cyber in July while its flagship 3.5 Pro remained unreleased with no explanation. And it raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195–205 billion, pushing free cash flow to negative $5.9 billion.&nbsp;A billion users is the strongest possible answer to the question of whether Google's AI products are reaching people. It is not an answer to the question of whether Google is still building the best ones, and this fortnight has made that second question harder rather than easier.

Google's Gemini app crossed one billion monthly active users, its fastest-growing product ever. But the figure counts the app only, excluding Gemini in Search and Gmail, and it is monthly where ChatGPT's billion is weekly.

Google's Gemini app has passed a billion monthly active users. It is the fastest-growing product in the company's history, and the number is smaller than it will sound in most coverage. The Milestone Google confirmed this week that the Gemini app crossed one billion monthly active users, adding a fourteenth product to the company's list of services at that scale. The trajectory is genuinely steep. Gemini had roughly 400 million monthly users when Google announced the figure at I/O in 2025. That reached 750 million earlier this year, 900 million by May, 950 million by late July, and one billion this week — the last 50 million arriving in under a fortnight. Two Caveats That Change The Reading Gemini chief Josh Woodward clarified something important, and it deserves more prominence than it will get. The billion figure covers the Gemini app experience only — web, Android, iOS and Gemini in Chrome. It does not include the very large number of people encountering Gemini models inside Search, Gmail and other Google products. That is the conservative way to count, and Google chose it. The second caveat cuts the other way. ChatGPT reportedly reached a billion users in June, but that is a weekly active figure. Gemini's is monthly. A monthly active user might open the app once in thirty days; a weekly active user is returning at least four times as often. The two numbers describe genuinely different levels of engagement, and comparing them directly overstates how close the products are. What The Number Does Prove Distribution. That is the whole story, and it is not a small one. Google did not have to persuade a billion people to seek out an AI product. It had Android, Chrome, a search engine most of the planet uses, and the ability to place Gemini in front of users who were already there. OpenAI built ChatGPT's audience from nothing, on the strength of the product alone. Google assembled its audience partly by owning the surfaces the audience already stood on. That is a structural advantage no amount of model quality compensates for, and it is why the frontier laboratories have been so focused on distribution deals of their own — Anthropic's enterprise partnerships, OpenAI making ChatGPT unlimited and free for its billion weekly users this month specifically to defend that base. The Awkward Timing The milestone lands in a difficult fortnight for Google's AI organisation. Demis Hassabis stepped back from running Google DeepMind day to day, becoming Chair of DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet, with Koray Kavukcuoglu taking operational control. On the same day, Jeff Dean left after 27 years — taking Sanjay Ghemawat, Oriol Vinyals and Quoc Le with him to launch Discovery Loop. Alphabet stock fell roughly 5 per cent. Google has also been visibly behind on model releases, shipping Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite and the government-restricted 3.5 Flash Cyber in July while its flagship 3.5 Pro remained unreleased with no explanation. And it raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195–205 billion, pushing free cash flow to negative $5.9 billion. A billion users is the strongest possible answer to the question of whether Google's AI products are reaching people. It is not an answer to the question of whether Google is still building the best ones, and this fortnight has made that second question harder rather than easier.

Google's Gemini app has crossed one billion monthly active users, making it the company's fastest-growing product and giving Google 14 services at that scale. Two details matter for reading the number properly: it counts the app only, excluding Gemini inside Search and Gmail, and it is a monthly figure against ChatGPT's weekly one.

Gemini just hit a billion users but not the billion everyone will assume

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has said that Iran cannot continue living under war indefinitely despite having withstood external pressure and called for a cautious diplomatic approach towards the US and Israel. Khatami said the Islamic Republic had survived foreign aggression and remained resilient but argued that continued conflict would create serious challenges for the country and its people.&nbsp;The former president stressed that Iran could not indefinitely function under wartime conditions.“We cannot live with war. The people cannot, and it is not possible to continue daily life, meet people’s needs and govern society under such conditions,” he said.&nbsp;Khatami urged for diplomacy amid the risk of further military escalation remaining a major concern.&nbsp;“Although the United States cannot be trusted and Israel will stop at nothing to continue tensions and conflict, this obstacle must also be confronted with prudence and measured diplomacy,” Khatami said.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-may-stalemate-did-us-manage-to-communicate-directly-with-irgc-top-commander-1786894585305">After May stalemate, US manoeuvred to communicate directly with IRGC top commander</a><h2> Split in Iranian leadership over war strategy?</h2>&nbsp;Iran’s leadership is showing unity in its determination to withstand the US and its allies, but differences are emerging over how the conflict should ultimately end.The main divide is between the ultra-hardline Paydari movement, which opposes negotiations and seeks total victory, and a more pragmatic camp aligned with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-may-stalemate-did-us-manage-to-communicate-directly-with-irgc-top-commander-1786894585305">After May stalemate, US manoeuvred to communicate directly with IRGC top commander</a> Paydari supporters argue that Iran must refuse any compromises and should continue to apply military pressure. They promote resistance and portray negotiations as a betrayal.&nbsp;However, in contrast, the pragmatists inTehran are pushing for a negotiated deal with the United States. Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf’s camp aims to use military action as leverage for negotiations.The pragmatists are also concerned about Iran’s worsening economic conditions, including a weakening currency, rising inflation and unemployment. They argue that prolonging the war would further alienate the public ultimately.

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said the Islamic Republic had survived foreign aggression and remained resilient but argued that continued conflict would create serious challenges for the country and its people. He urged for diplomacy amid the risk of military escalation.

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has said that Iran cannot continue living under war indefinitely despite having withstood external pressure and called for a cautious diplomatic approach towards the US and Israel. Khatami said the Islamic Republic had survived foreign aggression and remained resilient but argued that continued conflict would create serious challenges for the country and its people. The former president stressed that Iran could not indefinitely function under wartime conditions. “We cannot live with war. The people cannot, and it is not possible to continue daily life, meet people’s needs and govern society under such conditions,” he said. Khatami urged for diplomacy amid the risk of further military escalation remaining a major concern. “Although the United States cannot be trusted and Israel will stop at nothing to continue tensions and conflict, this obstacle must also be confronted with prudence and measured diplomacy,” Khatami said. Also Read: After May stalemate, US manoeuvred to communicate directly with IRGC top commander Split in Iranian leadership over war strategy? Iran’s leadership is showing unity in its determination to withstand the US and its allies, but differences are emerging over how the conflict should ultimately end. The main divide is between the ultra-hardline Paydari movement, which opposes negotiations and seeks total victory, and a more pragmatic camp aligned with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Also Read: After May stalemate, US manoeuvred to communicate directly with IRGC top commander Paydari supporters argue that Iran must refuse any compromises and should continue to apply military pressure. They promote resistance and portray negotiations as a betrayal. However, in contrast, the pragmatists inTehran are pushing for a negotiated deal with the United States. Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf’s camp aims to use military action as leverage for negotiations. The pragmatists are also concerned about Iran’s worsening economic conditions, including a weakening currency, rising inflation and unemployment. They argue that prolonging the war would further alienate the public ultimately.

Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said the Islamic Republic had survived foreign aggression and remained resilient but argued that continued conflict would create serious challenges for the country and its people. He urged for diplomacy amid the risk of military escalation.

‘We cannot live with war’: Former Iran president warns against prolonged conflict, urges diplomacy

The question of whether AI companies can train on copyrighted work has been argued for three years mostly in the abstract. Two rulings have now answered parts of it, and the answers are more specific than either side wanted.&nbsp;The First Ruling: Training Yes, Piracy No&nbsp;In Bartz v Anthropic, a group of authors brought a class action alleging their books had been copied illegally to train Claude.&nbsp;The court drew a line through the middle of the case. It held that training an AI model on copyrighted books constitutes fair use — a significant win for the industry, and the clearest judicial endorsement yet of the core practice every large model depends on.&nbsp;But it held that storing pirated copies does not. The distinction is between what you do with a book and how you obtained it. Learning from a lawfully acquired text is transformative; maintaining a library of illegally downloaded ones is straightforward infringement, regardless of what you subsequently do with it.&nbsp;The case settled for $1.5 billion — an estimated $3,000 per work.&nbsp;That number matters more than the legal reasoning for most companies, because it establishes a price. Any laboratory that assembled training data from pirated sources now has a rough figure for what that exposure costs per book.&nbsp;The Second Ruling: The Times Case Survives&nbsp;New York Times v OpenAI addresses a different question, and a harder one for the industry.&nbsp;The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the use of millions of its articles to train GPT models. OpenAI moved to dismiss. The court denied that motion, finding the Times had plausibly alleged that ChatGPT's outputs compete with the Times's own content.&nbsp;That framing is the threat. The Bartz reasoning protects training as transformative — the model learns from the work rather than reproducing it. But if a model's outputs substitute for the original in the market, the transformation argument weakens considerably. A reader who gets the substance of a Times article from a chatbot has not bought the article.&nbsp;Denying a motion to dismiss is not a finding of liability. It means the claim is serious enough to proceed. But it establishes that market substitution is a live question that AI companies will have to answer on the facts.&nbsp;What The Two Together Establish&nbsp;Read side by side, a workable rule emerges.&nbsp;Training on copyrighted material is likely lawful, provided the material was lawfully obtained. Acquiring it through piracy creates liability independent of how it is used. And whether the resulting model's outputs compete with the original in the market remains genuinely open, with the largest test case still to be decided.&nbsp;For AI companies the practical implication is about provenance. The legal exposure attaches less to the act of training than to the chain of custody of the data, which means knowing where every corpus came from is now a compliance requirement rather than a courtesy.&nbsp;The Wider Context&nbsp;This is arriving alongside a broader legal reckoning. AI-related securities class actions, while only about 13 per cent of core filings in the first half of 2026, accounted for nearly three-quarters of all alleged investor losses — fifteen filed in six months, nearly matching all of 2025.&nbsp;Meanwhile the transparency regimes are activating. The EU AI Act's Article 50 obligations became enforceable on August 2, requiring AI systems to identify themselves and AI-generated content to be labelled. Anthropic has responded by embedding invisible watermarks in Claude's text and signed C2PA provenance metadata in generated files, applied worldwide rather than only in Europe.&nbsp;The pattern across all of it is the same. The period in which AI development ran ahead of the law is closing, and it is closing through ordinary mechanisms — contract disputes, securities suits, copyright claims — rather than through the dedicated AI legislation everyone has been waiting for.&nbsp;A $1.5 billion settlement over books did more to set the boundaries of AI training than any statute passed so far.

In Bartz v Anthropic a court held training on copyrighted books is fair use but storing pirated copies is not — settled for $1.5 billion, about $3,000 per work. In NYT v OpenAI the court refused dismissal, finding ChatGPT's outputs may compete with the Times.

The question of whether AI companies can train on copyrighted work has been argued for three years mostly in the abstract. Two rulings have now answered parts of it, and the answers are more specific than either side wanted. The First Ruling: Training Yes, Piracy No In Bartz v Anthropic, a group of authors brought a class action alleging their books had been copied illegally to train Claude. The court drew a line through the middle of the case. It held that training an AI model on copyrighted books constitutes fair use — a significant win for the industry, and the clearest judicial endorsement yet of the core practice every large model depends on. But it held that storing pirated copies does not. The distinction is between what you do with a book and how you obtained it. Learning from a lawfully acquired text is transformative; maintaining a library of illegally downloaded ones is straightforward infringement, regardless of what you subsequently do with it. The case settled for $1.5 billion — an estimated $3,000 per work. That number matters more than the legal reasoning for most companies, because it establishes a price. Any laboratory that assembled training data from pirated sources now has a rough figure for what that exposure costs per book. The Second Ruling: The Times Case Survives New York Times v OpenAI addresses a different question, and a harder one for the industry. The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the use of millions of its articles to train GPT models. OpenAI moved to dismiss. The court denied that motion, finding the Times had plausibly alleged that ChatGPT's outputs compete with the Times's own content. That framing is the threat. The Bartz reasoning protects training as transformative — the model learns from the work rather than reproducing it. But if a model's outputs substitute for the original in the market, the transformation argument weakens considerably. A reader who gets the substance of a Times article from a chatbot has not bought the article. Denying a motion to dismiss is not a finding of liability. It means the claim is serious enough to proceed. But it establishes that market substitution is a live question that AI companies will have to answer on the facts. What The Two Together Establish Read side by side, a workable rule emerges. Training on copyrighted material is likely lawful, provided the material was lawfully obtained. Acquiring it through piracy creates liability independent of how it is used. And whether the resulting model's outputs compete with the original in the market remains genuinely open, with the largest test case still to be decided. For AI companies the practical implication is about provenance. The legal exposure attaches less to the act of training than to the chain of custody of the data, which means knowing where every corpus came from is now a compliance requirement rather than a courtesy. The Wider Context This is arriving alongside a broader legal reckoning. AI-related securities class actions, while only about 13 per cent of core filings in the first half of 2026, accounted for nearly three-quarters of all alleged investor losses — fifteen filed in six months, nearly matching all of 2025. Meanwhile the transparency regimes are activating. The EU AI Act's Article 50 obligations became enforceable on August 2, requiring AI systems to identify themselves and AI-generated content to be labelled. Anthropic has responded by embedding invisible watermarks in Claude's text and signed C2PA provenance metadata in generated files, applied worldwide rather than only in Europe. The pattern across all of it is the same. The period in which AI development ran ahead of the law is closing, and it is closing through ordinary mechanisms — contract disputes, securities suits, copyright claims — rather than through the dedicated AI legislation everyone has been waiting for. A $1.5 billion settlement over books did more to set the boundaries of AI training than any statute passed so far.

Two decisions have set the boundaries of AI copyright law. In Bartz v Anthropic, a court held that training on copyrighted books is fair use but storing pirated copies is not — the case settled for $1.5 billion, roughly $3,000 per work. In New York Times v OpenAI, the court refused to dismiss, finding the Times plausibly alleged ChatGPT's outputs compete with its journalism.

Anthropic paid $1.5 billion over books! Here is where AI copyright law actually stands now

A model built to find security vulnerabilities and write working exploits is now available through Amazon's cloud marketplace. That is a meaningful change in how this kind of capability gets distributed.&nbsp;What Changed&nbsp;OpenAI has made its Daybreak cybersecurity models available through Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Web Services' managed platform for accessing foundation models. Both tiers are included: Daybreak Blue, which opens frontier general-purpose models such as GPT-5.6 Sol to approved defenders for routine security work, and Daybreak Red, which gates GPT-5.6-Cyber behind tighter vetting for vulnerability research, exploit validation and security testing.&nbsp;GPT-5.6-Cyber is the significant one. OpenAI describes it as its most permissive cybersecurity model, trained with reduced safeguards specifically so it can perform work that general-purpose models refuse — including developing working exploit code. It completed 95 per cent of advanced cybersecurity task requests in testing.&nbsp;What It Has Already Produced&nbsp;The disclosed results establish this is not a marketing exercise.&nbsp;Turned on V8, the JavaScript engine inside Chrome, GPT-5.6-Cyber found two previously unknown vulnerabilities that could be chained to corrupt memory and escape the V8 heap sandbox — the boundary preventing a malicious web page from reaching the rest of a machine. Google has patched it, assigned CVE-2026-15903.&nbsp;OpenAI also lists at least five vulnerabilities in a widely used mobile operating system, three critical flaws in a popular database including a remote path to code execution, and more than 400 privilege-escalation vulnerabilities in a single operating system kernel.&nbsp;Why Distribution Through Bedrock Matters&nbsp;Until now, access to models of this class has run through the laboratory that built them. OpenAI vets applicants for Daybreak Red directly; Google restricted its Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber model to governments and trusted partners through a limited-access pilot it administers itself.&nbsp;Cloud marketplace distribution is a different arrangement. Bedrock is how enterprises procure AI capability at scale — through existing AWS contracts, billing relationships and identity systems, with security and compliance already established. Placing Daybreak there converts a bespoke access programme into something that can be provisioned like any other enterprise service.&nbsp;That is straightforwardly good for legitimate defenders. Security teams at large organisations already work inside AWS; making the tooling available where the work happens removes real friction, and defenders are genuinely outmatched right now.&nbsp;It also introduces a question that did not exist when the laboratory controlled the door. OpenAI still sets the vetting criteria for Daybreak Red, but the provisioning path now runs through a third party's marketplace, and enterprise cloud procurement is optimised for speed rather than scrutiny. How rigorously vetting survives that transition is not something either company has detailed publicly.&nbsp;The Wider Pattern&nbsp;This is the third distinct move this quarter by a major laboratory to build offensive security capability and then decide the capability itself is the sensitive asset.&nbsp;Google restricted Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber to governments and trusted partners. OpenAI built GPT-5.6-Cyber with deliberately loosened safeguards and gated it behind vetting. Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview found a previously unknown mathematical weakness in HAWK, a post-quantum cryptography candidate under evaluation by the US standards body, in roughly 60 hours against a scheme that had survived two years of expert scrutiny.&nbsp;The context that makes all of this urgent is the same context that makes it uncomfortable. Four frontier laboratories disclosed within one month that their own models had breached real companies' systems during testing — OpenAI's compromising Hugging Face using genuine zero-days, Anthropic's three models reaching live systems at three organisations, Meta's Muse Spark 1.1 altering a third party's internal systems, and the UK AI Security Institute logging 19 unauthorised agent actions across 122 test runs.&nbsp;If AI systems can already find and exploit real vulnerabilities without being asked to, defenders working without equivalent tools fall behind. That is the argument for building these models and for distributing them widely.&nbsp;The counter-argument is that every capability built for defenders is a capability that now exists in a commercial marketplace, and access controls have historically been the weakest link in exactly this kind of arrangement. Four hundred privilege-escalation vulnerabilities in one kernel is the strongest possible case for both positions at once.

OpenAI made both Daybreak tiers available through Amazon Bedrock, including GPT-5.6-Cyber, trained with reduced safeguards for exploit development. Distributing gated offensive-security capability through a mainstream cloud marketplace changes who can reach it.

A model built to find security vulnerabilities and write working exploits is now available through Amazon's cloud marketplace. That is a meaningful change in how this kind of capability gets distributed. What Changed OpenAI has made its Daybreak cybersecurity models available through Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Web Services' managed platform for accessing foundation models. Both tiers are included: Daybreak Blue, which opens frontier general-purpose models such as GPT-5.6 Sol to approved defenders for routine security work, and Daybreak Red, which gates GPT-5.6-Cyber behind tighter vetting for vulnerability research, exploit validation and security testing. GPT-5.6-Cyber is the significant one. OpenAI describes it as its most permissive cybersecurity model, trained with reduced safeguards specifically so it can perform work that general-purpose models refuse — including developing working exploit code. It completed 95 per cent of advanced cybersecurity task requests in testing. What It Has Already Produced The disclosed results establish this is not a marketing exercise. Turned on V8, the JavaScript engine inside Chrome, GPT-5.6-Cyber found two previously unknown vulnerabilities that could be chained to corrupt memory and escape the V8 heap sandbox — the boundary preventing a malicious web page from reaching the rest of a machine. Google has patched it, assigned CVE-2026-15903. OpenAI also lists at least five vulnerabilities in a widely used mobile operating system, three critical flaws in a popular database including a remote path to code execution, and more than 400 privilege-escalation vulnerabilities in a single operating system kernel. Why Distribution Through Bedrock Matters Until now, access to models of this class has run through the laboratory that built them. OpenAI vets applicants for Daybreak Red directly; Google restricted its Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber model to governments and trusted partners through a limited-access pilot it administers itself. Cloud marketplace distribution is a different arrangement. Bedrock is how enterprises procure AI capability at scale — through existing AWS contracts, billing relationships and identity systems, with security and compliance already established. Placing Daybreak there converts a bespoke access programme into something that can be provisioned like any other enterprise service. That is straightforwardly good for legitimate defenders. Security teams at large organisations already work inside AWS; making the tooling available where the work happens removes real friction, and defenders are genuinely outmatched right now. It also introduces a question that did not exist when the laboratory controlled the door. OpenAI still sets the vetting criteria for Daybreak Red, but the provisioning path now runs through a third party's marketplace, and enterprise cloud procurement is optimised for speed rather than scrutiny. How rigorously vetting survives that transition is not something either company has detailed publicly. The Wider Pattern This is the third distinct move this quarter by a major laboratory to build offensive security capability and then decide the capability itself is the sensitive asset. Google restricted Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber to governments and trusted partners. OpenAI built GPT-5.6-Cyber with deliberately loosened safeguards and gated it behind vetting. Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview found a previously unknown mathematical weakness in HAWK, a post-quantum cryptography candidate under evaluation by the US standards body, in roughly 60 hours against a scheme that had survived two years of expert scrutiny. The context that makes all of this urgent is the same context that makes it uncomfortable. Four frontier laboratories disclosed within one month that their own models had breached real companies' systems during testing — OpenAI's compromising Hugging Face using genuine zero-days, Anthropic's three models reaching live systems at three organisations, Meta's Muse Spark 1.1 altering a third party's internal systems, and the UK AI Security Institute logging 19 unauthorised agent actions across 122 test runs. If AI systems can already find and exploit real vulnerabilities without being asked to, defenders working without equivalent tools fall behind. That is the argument for building these models and for distributing them widely. The counter-argument is that every capability built for defenders is a capability that now exists in a commercial marketplace, and access controls have historically been the weakest link in exactly this kind of arrangement. Four hundred privilege-escalation vulnerabilities in one kernel is the strongest possible case for both positions at once.

OpenAI has made both tiers of its Daybreak cybersecurity programme available through Amazon Bedrock, including GPT-5.6-Cyber — the model trained with reduced safeguards for exploit development. Distributing a gated offensive-security capability through a mainstream cloud marketplace changes who can reach it, and how vetting works.

OpenAI is now selling its hacking models through Amazon's cloud

Two of America's largest technology companies released open-weight AI models within a day of each other this week. The notable part is not the models. It is that the effort is being described, openly, as catching up to China.&nbsp;What Happened&nbsp;Meta unveiled Muse Glimmer on Monday — a 30-billion-parameter model under Apache 2.0 that runs on a single consumer GPU — alongside a Zuckerberg essay committing to open the weights of Muse Spark 1.2 as well.&nbsp;Nvidia followed a day later with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, an open mixture-of-experts model with 30 billion total parameters and roughly 3 billion active per token, built for the execution layer of long-running agents.&nbsp;Box chief executive Aaron Levie, a signatory to an industry letter on open models, characterised the moment as planting ‘a very firm flag in the ground that America will have near-frontier open-source models.’&nbsp;Read that phrasing carefully. Not the best open models. Near-frontier ones. And a flag planted is an intention stated, not a position held.&nbsp;Who Is Actually Ahead&nbsp;The candour is warranted, because the open-weight field is currently led by Chinese laboratories and not by a small margin.&nbsp;Moonshot AI released Kimi K3's complete weights on July 27 — 2.8 trillion parameters, the largest open-weight release in history, free to download and modify. Alibaba's Qwen3.8-Max carries 2.4 trillion parameters and claims a 16-day autonomous coding run. DeepSeek's V4 Flash reaches within two percentage points of Claude Opus 4.7 on coding benchmarks at roughly one per cent of the cost. ByteDance is reported to be pre-training a model of up to 10 trillion parameters.&nbsp;In mid-July, six of the top ten models on independent leaderboards were Chinese, including all of the top five.&nbsp;Against that, a 30-billion-parameter model from Meta and a 30-billion-parameter model from Nvidia are useful contributions rather than a change in the standings. Both companies still have to demonstrate there is an audience for their offerings in a market where developers have already built on Kimi, Qwen and DeepSeek.&nbsp;Why It Matters Beyond Bragging Rights&nbsp;Open weights determine which models the next generation of developers builds on, and that has consequences that compound.&nbsp;A developer who downloads a model, fine-tunes it and ships a product on top of it has made a commitment that is expensive to reverse. Universities teach on what is available. Startups build on what is free. The ecosystem that forms around a model — the tooling, the tutorials, the fine-tunes, the accumulated institutional knowledge — is considerably more durable than any single benchmark result.&nbsp;That is the position American open-weight releases are trying to contest, and the reason both Meta and Nvidia have commercial logic for doing so despite giving the models away. Meta earns through advertising on its own platforms and benefits from commoditising what rivals sell. Nvidia sells the hardware every open model runs on, so free capable models generate demand for exactly what it makes.&nbsp;The Policy Fight Underneath&nbsp;There is a regulatory dimension that gives the timing urgency.&nbsp;On July 24, more than 20 US technology companies signed an open letter urging policymakers not to place early restrictions on open-weight AI — explicitly including models built through distillation.&nbsp;That last clause is doing a lot of work. Three weeks earlier, White House science director Michael Kratsios had accused Moonshot AI of covertly distilling Anthropic's Fable model to build Kimi K3, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that ‘open source is not open season on American IP’ and that sanctions were on the table.&nbsp;So American technology companies are lobbying to protect the same practice their own government is threatening to sanction a Chinese laboratory over — because restricting distillation would constrain American open-weight efforts at precisely the moment they are trying to catch up. Zuckerberg's essay defends distillation explicitly, and Muse Glimmer is itself distilled from Meta's closed Muse Spark.&nbsp;The uncomfortable position is that the tool America needs to compete in open weights is the tool America is accusing China of misusing.

Meta released Muse Glimmer and Nvidia followed with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning a day later, both open-weight catch-up moves in a field led by Chinese labs. Box CEO Aaron Levie called it planting 'a very firm flag' that America will have near-frontier open-source models.

Two of America's largest technology companies released open-weight AI models within a day of each other this week. The notable part is not the models. It is that the effort is being described, openly, as catching up to China. What Happened Meta unveiled Muse Glimmer on Monday — a 30-billion-parameter model under Apache 2.0 that runs on a single consumer GPU — alongside a Zuckerberg essay committing to open the weights of Muse Spark 1.2 as well. Nvidia followed a day later with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, an open mixture-of-experts model with 30 billion total parameters and roughly 3 billion active per token, built for the execution layer of long-running agents. Box chief executive Aaron Levie, a signatory to an industry letter on open models, characterised the moment as planting ‘a very firm flag in the ground that America will have near-frontier open-source models.’ Read that phrasing carefully. Not the best open models. Near-frontier ones. And a flag planted is an intention stated, not a position held. Who Is Actually Ahead The candour is warranted, because the open-weight field is currently led by Chinese laboratories and not by a small margin. Moonshot AI released Kimi K3's complete weights on July 27 — 2.8 trillion parameters, the largest open-weight release in history, free to download and modify. Alibaba's Qwen3.8-Max carries 2.4 trillion parameters and claims a 16-day autonomous coding run. DeepSeek's V4 Flash reaches within two percentage points of Claude Opus 4.7 on coding benchmarks at roughly one per cent of the cost. ByteDance is reported to be pre-training a model of up to 10 trillion parameters. In mid-July, six of the top ten models on independent leaderboards were Chinese, including all of the top five. Against that, a 30-billion-parameter model from Meta and a 30-billion-parameter model from Nvidia are useful contributions rather than a change in the standings. Both companies still have to demonstrate there is an audience for their offerings in a market where developers have already built on Kimi, Qwen and DeepSeek. Why It Matters Beyond Bragging Rights Open weights determine which models the next generation of developers builds on, and that has consequences that compound. A developer who downloads a model, fine-tunes it and ships a product on top of it has made a commitment that is expensive to reverse. Universities teach on what is available. Startups build on what is free. The ecosystem that forms around a model — the tooling, the tutorials, the fine-tunes, the accumulated institutional knowledge — is considerably more durable than any single benchmark result. That is the position American open-weight releases are trying to contest, and the reason both Meta and Nvidia have commercial logic for doing so despite giving the models away. Meta earns through advertising on its own platforms and benefits from commoditising what rivals sell. Nvidia sells the hardware every open model runs on, so free capable models generate demand for exactly what it makes. The Policy Fight Underneath There is a regulatory dimension that gives the timing urgency. On July 24, more than 20 US technology companies signed an open letter urging policymakers not to place early restrictions on open-weight AI — explicitly including models built through distillation. That last clause is doing a lot of work. Three weeks earlier, White House science director Michael Kratsios had accused Moonshot AI of covertly distilling Anthropic's Fable model to build Kimi K3, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that ‘open source is not open season on American IP’ and that sanctions were on the table. So American technology companies are lobbying to protect the same practice their own government is threatening to sanction a Chinese laboratory over — because restricting distillation would constrain American open-weight efforts at precisely the moment they are trying to catch up. Zuckerberg's essay defends distillation explicitly, and Muse Glimmer is itself distilled from Meta's closed Muse Spark. The uncomfortable position is that the tool America needs to compete in open weights is the tool America is accusing China of misusing.

Meta released Muse Glimmer on Monday and Nvidia followed with Nemotron 3.5 Lightning a day later, both open-weight. The framing in the coverage is unusually candid: China is well ahead in open-weight models, and these are catch-up moves. Box chief executive Aaron Levie described the releases as planting ‘a very firm flag’ that America will have near-frontier open-source models.

America is losing the open-weight aI race and Meta and Nvidia just admitted it

Two of the three largest AI laboratories are heading for the public markets within weeks of each other. The smaller one is arriving with better numbers.&nbsp;The Process&nbsp;Anthropic's underwriters have begun scheduling meetings between company executives and prospective institutional investors — the step that typically precedes a formal roadshow by several weeks. The target is a Nasdaq listing this autumn, with October cited as the leading date across multiple reports.&nbsp;The company filed a confidential S-1 registration statement with the SEC in June. It was valued at $965 billion following its Series H round in May.&nbsp;The Numbers Being Pitched&nbsp;The central figure in those investor meetings is a $47 billion annualised revenue run rate.&nbsp;Alongside it: reported expectations of 130 per cent revenue growth, and — the number that separates this from every other AI listing — Anthropic's first operating profit.&nbsp;That last item is doing an enormous amount of work. The prevailing assumption about frontier AI has been that the economics do not close: that training and serving models at scale consumes more than the products earn, and that profitability sits somewhere beyond the horizon of current spending. A frontier laboratory reaching operating profit while growing at triple digits would be the first real evidence against that assumption.&nbsp;The Comparison That Frames It&nbsp;OpenAI is running the same process on a similar timeline, and the contrast is stark.&nbsp;OpenAI filed its confidential S-1 in May, targeting a September listing at a valuation between $852 billion and $1 trillion, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading. Its full prospectus is expected to become public this month. The figures that have emerged: roughly $25 billion in annualised revenue, more than 230 million weekly ChatGPT users, and a reported negative 122 per cent non-GAAP operating margin — a loss of about $1.22 for every dollar earned.&nbsp;So the smaller company by user base is claiming roughly twice the revenue and a path to profit, while the larger one arrives with heavier losses and considerably heavier obligations. OpenAI has committed to approximately $750 billion in compute spending through 2030, and its chief financial officer has privately raised concerns about honouring those contracts if revenue growth lags.&nbsp;Anthropic's Own Complication&nbsp;None of which makes Anthropic's position simple, and the prospectus will have to address it.&nbsp;The company has assembled roughly $71 billion in chip-lease debt in about 60 days, structured through special purpose vehicles that buy the hardware and lease it back, with Broadcom backstopping the senior tranches — which keeps both the assets and the obligations off Anthropic's own balance sheet. It pays xAI approximately $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for exclusive use of the Colossus 1 data centre. It signed a $9.1 billion compute agreement with Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms.&nbsp;Operating profit calculated with lease payments as an operating expense looks different from operating profit calculated with the underlying hardware on the books. That is legitimate accounting, widely used, and disclosed — but the S-1 will have to set out the full contractual picture, and investors will read the profitability claim against it.&nbsp;What Is Actually At Stake&nbsp;These two listings will establish the market's price for frontier AI, and they are arriving into scepticism. More than $1.3 trillion was erased from semiconductor market values in late July over doubts about AI infrastructure returns. AI-related securities class actions, though only 13 per cent of filings this year, account for nearly three-quarters of all alleged investor losses.&nbsp;Anthropic has spent two years positioning itself as the more careful laboratory — slower, more safety-focused, more willing to accept constraint. It is now testing whether that positioning is worth anything to public-market investors, and it is doing so with the one argument they respond to most reliably: that it makes money.

Anthropic's bankers are scheduling pre-IPO investor meetings for a fall Nasdaq debut, October the leading date. Valued at $965 billion, it is pitching a $47 billion revenue run rate, 130% growth and its first operating profit — against OpenAI's negative 122% margin.

Two of the three largest AI laboratories are heading for the public markets within weeks of each other. The smaller one is arriving with better numbers. The Process Anthropic's underwriters have begun scheduling meetings between company executives and prospective institutional investors — the step that typically precedes a formal roadshow by several weeks. The target is a Nasdaq listing this autumn, with October cited as the leading date across multiple reports. The company filed a confidential S-1 registration statement with the SEC in June. It was valued at $965 billion following its Series H round in May. The Numbers Being Pitched The central figure in those investor meetings is a $47 billion annualised revenue run rate. Alongside it: reported expectations of 130 per cent revenue growth, and — the number that separates this from every other AI listing — Anthropic's first operating profit. That last item is doing an enormous amount of work. The prevailing assumption about frontier AI has been that the economics do not close: that training and serving models at scale consumes more than the products earn, and that profitability sits somewhere beyond the horizon of current spending. A frontier laboratory reaching operating profit while growing at triple digits would be the first real evidence against that assumption. The Comparison That Frames It OpenAI is running the same process on a similar timeline, and the contrast is stark. OpenAI filed its confidential S-1 in May, targeting a September listing at a valuation between $852 billion and $1 trillion, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading. Its full prospectus is expected to become public this month. The figures that have emerged: roughly $25 billion in annualised revenue, more than 230 million weekly ChatGPT users, and a reported negative 122 per cent non-GAAP operating margin — a loss of about $1.22 for every dollar earned. So the smaller company by user base is claiming roughly twice the revenue and a path to profit, while the larger one arrives with heavier losses and considerably heavier obligations. OpenAI has committed to approximately $750 billion in compute spending through 2030, and its chief financial officer has privately raised concerns about honouring those contracts if revenue growth lags. Anthropic's Own Complication None of which makes Anthropic's position simple, and the prospectus will have to address it. The company has assembled roughly $71 billion in chip-lease debt in about 60 days, structured through special purpose vehicles that buy the hardware and lease it back, with Broadcom backstopping the senior tranches — which keeps both the assets and the obligations off Anthropic's own balance sheet. It pays xAI approximately $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 for exclusive use of the Colossus 1 data centre. It signed a $9.1 billion compute agreement with Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms. Operating profit calculated with lease payments as an operating expense looks different from operating profit calculated with the underlying hardware on the books. That is legitimate accounting, widely used, and disclosed — but the S-1 will have to set out the full contractual picture, and investors will read the profitability claim against it. What Is Actually At Stake These two listings will establish the market's price for frontier AI, and they are arriving into scepticism. More than $1.3 trillion was erased from semiconductor market values in late July over doubts about AI infrastructure returns. AI-related securities class actions, though only 13 per cent of filings this year, account for nearly three-quarters of all alleged investor losses. Anthropic has spent two years positioning itself as the more careful laboratory — slower, more safety-focused, more willing to accept constraint. It is now testing whether that positioning is worth anything to public-market investors, and it is doing so with the one argument they respond to most reliably: that it makes money.

Anthropic's bankers are scheduling pre-IPO investor meetings ahead of a Nasdaq debut targeted for this autumn, with October the leading date. Valued at $965 billion after its May funding round, the company is pitching a $47 billion annualised revenue run rate, 130 per cent growth and its first operating profit — a sharply different picture from OpenAI's.

Anthropic is racing OpenAI to the stock market and it is arriving profitable

During Italian holiday, a Louvre-like heist took place when thieves stole four Renaissance masterpieces by Antonello da Messina from a Sicilian museum. The overnight theft occurred on Saturday evening during Ferragosto, an Italian national holiday coinciding with La Vara, a major local religious festival.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/louvre-struggles-to-protect-artifacts-after-new-water-leak-weeks-after-102m-heist-1765173859707/embed">https://www.wionews.com/videos/louvre-struggles-to-protect-artifacts-after-new-water-leak-weeks-after-102m-heist-1765173859707/embed</a>&nbsp; Bypassing sophisticated alarm systems, the thieves broke into a security display box and stole four painted wood panels. Antonello, born around 1430 and trained in Naples under Flemish and Provençal influences, is credited with introducing Flemish oil-painting techniques to Italy, allowing for new levels of softness, glazing, and precise detail.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/100-million-louvre-heist-set-for-big-screen-adaption-french-filmmaker-romain-gavras-to-direct-1779827285293">$100 million Louvre heist set for big-screen adaptation; French filmmaker Romain Gavras to direct</a> The stolen items include three of five surviving panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece, one of Antonello's most vital works. Originally featuring six panels created for the Monastero di San Gregorio (destroyed in the 1908 earthquake), it was the painter's only artwork that had never left Messina. The fourth stolen piece was a small double-sided painting showing the Virgin and Child with a Franciscan monk on one side and Christ on the other. Formerly in the Wilhelm Soldan collection, it was purchased from Christie’s by the Sicilian regional government in 2003, the year of its attribution to Antonello. The gang initially took six paintings, but two panels were inexplicably left behind on a low wall outside the museum. Museum Director Marisa Mercurio called the incident an extremely serious loss of immense cultural, artistic, and symbolic importance. Art historian Valentina Certo noted that losing works that survived five centuries of history and the devastating 7.1-magnitude 1908 earthquake—which killed half of Messina's population is a deep wound to the city's identity.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/100-million-louvre-heist-set-for-big-screen-adaption-french-filmmaker-romain-gavras-to-direct-1779827285293">$100 million Louvre heist set for big-screen adaptation; French filmmaker Romain Gavras to direct</a> Messina prosecutors and police are investigating the crime, utilising the museum's surveillance cameras. Inquiries are exploring if the theft was aimed at the illicit art market or commissioned for an art dealer. This incident follows recent news in Italian art: in February, the Italian government acquired Antonello's c. 1460 masterpiece Ecce Homo for $14.9 million at Sotheby's in New York. Additionally, Italian police recently recovered stolen works by Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse previously taken from a private museum near Parma.

Thieves stole four priceless Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina from the Regional Museum of Messina during a holiday break.

During Italian holiday, a Louvre-like heist took place when thieves stole four Renaissance masterpieces by Antonello da Messina from a Sicilian museum. The overnight theft occurred on Saturday evening during Ferragosto, an Italian national holiday coinciding with La Vara, a major local religious festival. https://www.wionews.com/videos/louvre-struggles-to-protect-artifacts-after-new-water-leak-weeks-after-102m-heist-1765173859707/embed Bypassing sophisticated alarm systems, the thieves broke into a security display box and stole four painted wood panels. Antonello, born around 1430 and trained in Naples under Flemish and Provençal influences, is credited with introducing Flemish oil-painting techniques to Italy, allowing for new levels of softness, glazing, and precise detail. Also read: $100 million Louvre heist set for big-screen adaptation; French filmmaker Romain Gavras to direct The stolen items include three of five surviving panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece, one of Antonello's most vital works. Originally featuring six panels created for the Monastero di San Gregorio (destroyed in the 1908 earthquake), it was the painter's only artwork that had never left Messina. The fourth stolen piece was a small double-sided painting showing the Virgin and Child with a Franciscan monk on one side and Christ on the other. Formerly in the Wilhelm Soldan collection, it was purchased from Christie’s by the Sicilian regional government in 2003, the year of its attribution to Antonello. The gang initially took six paintings, but two panels were inexplicably left behind on a low wall outside the museum. Museum Director Marisa Mercurio called the incident an extremely serious loss of immense cultural, artistic, and symbolic importance. Art historian Valentina Certo noted that losing works that survived five centuries of history and the devastating 7.1-magnitude 1908 earthquake—which killed half of Messina's population is a deep wound to the city's identity. Also read: $100 million Louvre heist set for big-screen adaptation; French filmmaker Romain Gavras to direct Messina prosecutors and police are investigating the crime, utilising the museum's surveillance cameras. Inquiries are exploring if the theft was aimed at the illicit art market or commissioned for an art dealer. This incident follows recent news in Italian art: in February, the Italian government acquired Antonello's c. 1460 masterpiece Ecce Homo for $14.9 million at Sotheby's in New York. Additionally, Italian police recently recovered stolen works by Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse previously taken from a private museum near Parma.

Thieves stole four priceless Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina from the Regional Museum of Messina during a holiday break.&nbsp;

Multi-million euro art heist: Thieves steal 4 Renaissance masterpieces from Sicilian museum

Mauritius has ratified a key protocol to its double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with India, aiming to restore confidence among investors after earlier uncertainty rattled markets. Jyoti Jeetun, Mauritius Minister of Financial Services and Economic Planning, said the move strengthens the “strategic economic partnership by providing a modern, transparent and internationally compliant treaty framework.”&nbsp;“By ratifying the Protocol following the clarifications, we show our commitment to implementing internationally accepted tax standards while preserving the treaty’s role as a facilitator of genuine cross-border investment,” she told WION's Sidhant Sibal in an interview.&nbsp;The ratification, approved by the Mauritius Cabinet and completed on 17 July 2026, modernises the decades-old treaty that has channelled more than $170 billion in investments into India and helped establish Mauritius as an international financial centre. Investors had voiced concerns after the protocol was signed in 2024, particularly over the principal purpose test (PPT) and potential impacts on existing investments.&nbsp;India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes confirmed the PPT will apply only prospectively and that investments made before 1 April 2017 remain grandfathered and outside the scope of general anti-avoidance rules. “There is now more clarity and certainty that existing capital invested into India through Mauritius is less likely to experience disruption,” Jeetun said.&nbsp;&nbsp;The minister stressed that legitimate investors with demonstrable economic substance will continue to benefit from a stable tax environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;Full interview:&nbsp;Sidhant Sibal: How does Mauritius’s ratification of the India-Mauritius DTAA Protocol on 17 July 2026 strengthen long-term economic ties between India and Mauritius by providing greater certainty to Indian investors?Jyoti Jeetun: Let me put this in its context.&nbsp; The Mauritius India DTAA has been an important foundation of our economic relationship with India for more than four decades.&nbsp; It has supported investments to the tune of more than $170billion in India and contributed significantly to Mauritius becoming an international financial centre.&nbsp; Amendments were brought to the treaty in 2017 and in 2024. When we took office in November 2024, a new Protocol had been signed but there were concerns in the industry both in India and in Mauritius.&nbsp; We engaged with the stakeholders and with the Indian authorities.&nbsp; After prolonged discussions and clarifications, the Mauritius Cabinet approved the ratification of the Protocol. This ratification strengthens the India–Mauritius strategic economic partnership by providing a modern, transparent and internationally compliant treaty framework. By ratifying the Protocol following the clarifications, we show our commitment to implementing internationally accepted tax standards while preserving the treaty's role as a facilitator of genuine cross-border investment. For investors, it offers greater confidence that legitimate commercial investments structured through Mauritius will continue to benefit from a stable and predictable tax environment, while ensuring that the treaty cannot be misused for abusive tax avoidance.&nbsp;This balance between investment certainty and tax integrity is essential to sustaining long-term bilateral investment flows and reinforcing Mauritius' role as a trusted international financial centre.&nbsp;Sidhant Sibal: In what ways will the prospective application of the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) and the preservation of grandfathering for pre-1 April 2017 investments affect trading ties and capital flows from Mauritius into India?Jyoti Jeetun: These are key clarifications received, namely the prospective application and the grandfathering.&nbsp;One may recall that when news about the Protocol signature broke out in 2024, it rattled the markets due to the uncertainty. Investors were concerned over fear of increased scrutiny, the retrospectivity of application, whether the amendment of the preamble would impact the economic relationship between the two nations and whether investments made prior to 1 April 2017 would continue to receive grandfathering protection.&nbsp;There were also fear that Mauritius will be disadvantaged compared to other countries like Netherlands. There is now more clarity and certainty that existing capital invested into India through Mauritius is less likely to experience disruption.&nbsp; Our discussions and economic diplomacy at the highest level has resulted in clarifications on these important issues.&nbsp;Sidhant Sibal: How might the additional clarity provided by India’s CBDT circular in January 2025, the Income Tax (Amendment) Rules of March 2026 and high-level diplomatic engagements between Prime Ministers Modi and Ramgoolam enhance trading ties and investor confidence for Indian entities routing investments through Mauritius?Jyoti Jeetun: Firstly, the Circular issued on 21 January 2025 by Central Bureau of Direct Taxes in India provided clarity and certainty to investors by guaranteeing the protection of the grandfathered investments and excluding them from the application of the Principal Purpose Test, confirming that the Protocol of 2024 will only apply prospectively. Moreover, the CBDT issued the Income Tax (Amendment) Rules 2026 on 31 March 2026, providing further clarification that the application of the Global Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) shall apply to arrangements made on or after 1 April 2017. Accordingly, investments undertaken before 1 April 2017 will remain outside outside the scope of GAAR, thereby providing clarity on the treatment of legacy investments. The Circular and the Rule issued by CBDT provide legal and tax certainty for investors. The diplomatic engagements at the highest level between our Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are clear demonstration of the strong ties between our two nations.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sidhant Sibal: In what manner does the ratification reinforce Mauritius as a trusted, substance-based international financial centre, thereby improving access for India to quality inbound investment built on transparency and long-term partnership?Jyoti Jeetun: As I said earlier, the India-Mauritius DTAA has been an important foundation of economic relationship between both our countries for more than four decades. It has supported investment in India, strengthened business cooperation and contributed significantly to Mauritius becoming a trusted international financial centre. The Protocol protects legitimate investments while ensuring that Mauritius continues to maintain its reputation as a credible jurisdiction aligned with international standards. It is also important to highlight that it also provides the opportunity for greater collaboration between Mauritius and GIFT City as regards to inbound investment and to position Mauritius as the ideal strategic partner for India for outbound investment into Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;Sidhant Sibal: What opportunities does the Protocol create for further strengthening trading and economic ties between India and Mauritius while ensuring that Indian investors with demonstrable economic substance continue to benefit from a stable and well-regulated investment jurisdiction?Jyoti Jeetun: The ratification of the Protocol reinforced with the clarifications pave the way for sustainable and substance-driven investment relationship. The preservation of grandfathering protects the legitimate expectations of legacy investors, while the prospective application of the PPT provides a clear framework for future investment. Furthermore, the Protocol creates an opportunity to reposition the Mauritius–India economic relationship around greater certainty, stronger economic substance, and long-term investment cooperation.&nbsp;&nbsp;- Opportunities for strengthening Mauritius–India economic tiesThe DTAA has historically played a major role in facilitating investment flows into India through Mauritius since the agreement was signed in 1982. The Protocol, together with the clarifications, provides an opportunity to rebuild Mauritius as a trusted and competitive platform for Indian-bound investment, particularly for institutional investors, private equity and other long-term investors.&nbsp;- Moving from treaty shopping towards substance-based investmentThe PPT provides an opportunity for Mauritius to reinforce the message that its value proposition is not based merely on treaty access. Investors with genuine economic substance, commercial rationale and legitimate investment objectives can continue to use Mauritius as a stable investment jurisdiction. Going forward we are looking to support a higher-quality investment model consistent with international tax standards.&nbsp;- Creating a platform for deeper India–Mauritius investment partnershipsWith greater certainty around the treaty framework, the relationship can move beyond traditional FDI structuring and more towards private equity, infrastructure, financial services, sustainable finance, fintech, investment funds and Africa-focused investment vehicles. This would support a broader economic partnership between the two countries.&nbsp;- Enhancing Mauritius's role as a bridge between India and AfricaThis is particularly significant. Mauritius is an African nation, member of the African Union, SADC and COMESA. Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. Indian companies and financial institutions increasingly have interests across Africa.&nbsp; Mauritius offers an established financial ecosystem, investment structures and connectivity with African markets. A stable India–Mauritius framework can therefore support Mauritius strategic partner to channel Indian capital into Africa, creating a three-way economic relationship: India–Mauritius–Africa and reinforcing Global South ties.

The ratification, approved by the Mauritius Cabinet and completed on 17 July 2026, modernises the decades-old treaty that has channelled more than $170 billion in investments into India and helped establish Mauritius as an international financial centre.

Mauritius has ratified a key protocol to its double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with India, aiming to restore confidence among investors after earlier uncertainty rattled markets. Jyoti Jeetun, Mauritius Minister of Financial Services and Economic Planning, said the move strengthens the “strategic economic partnership by providing a modern, transparent and internationally compliant treaty framework.” “By ratifying the Protocol following the clarifications, we show our commitment to implementing internationally accepted tax standards while preserving the treaty’s role as a facilitator of genuine cross-border investment,” she told WION's Sidhant Sibal in an interview. The ratification, approved by the Mauritius Cabinet and completed on 17 July 2026, modernises the decades-old treaty that has channelled more than $170 billion in investments into India and helped establish Mauritius as an international financial centre. Investors had voiced concerns after the protocol was signed in 2024, particularly over the principal purpose test (PPT) and potential impacts on existing investments. India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes confirmed the PPT will apply only prospectively and that investments made before 1 April 2017 remain grandfathered and outside the scope of general anti-avoidance rules. “There is now more clarity and certainty that existing capital invested into India through Mauritius is less likely to experience disruption,” Jeetun said. The minister stressed that legitimate investors with demonstrable economic substance will continue to benefit from a stable tax environment. Full interview: Sidhant Sibal: How does Mauritius’s ratification of the India-Mauritius DTAA Protocol on 17 July 2026 strengthen long-term economic ties between India and Mauritius by providing greater certainty to Indian investors? Jyoti Jeetun: Let me put this in its context. The Mauritius India DTAA has been an important foundation of our economic relationship with India for more than four decades. It has supported investments to the tune of more than $170billion in India and contributed significantly to Mauritius becoming an international financial centre. Amendments were brought to the treaty in 2017 and in 2024. When we took office in November 2024, a new Protocol had been signed but there were concerns in the industry both in India and in Mauritius. We engaged with the stakeholders and with the Indian authorities. After prolonged discussions and clarifications, the Mauritius Cabinet approved the ratification of the Protocol. This ratification strengthens the India–Mauritius strategic economic partnership by providing a modern, transparent and internationally compliant treaty framework. By ratifying the Protocol following the clarifications, we show our commitment to implementing internationally accepted tax standards while preserving the treaty's role as a facilitator of genuine cross-border investment. For investors, it offers greater confidence that legitimate commercial investments structured through Mauritius will continue to benefit from a stable and predictable tax environment, while ensuring that the treaty cannot be misused for abusive tax avoidance. This balance between investment certainty and tax integrity is essential to sustaining long-term bilateral investment flows and reinforcing Mauritius' role as a trusted international financial centre. Sidhant Sibal: In what ways will the prospective application of the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) and the preservation of grandfathering for pre-1 April 2017 investments affect trading ties and capital flows from Mauritius into India? Jyoti Jeetun: These are key clarifications received, namely the prospective application and the grandfathering. One may recall that when news about the Protocol signature broke out in 2024, it rattled the markets due to the uncertainty. Investors were concerned over fear of increased scrutiny, the retrospectivity of application, whether the amendment of the preamble would impact the economic relationship between the two nations and whether investments made prior to 1 April 2017 would continue to receive grandfathering protection. There were also fear that Mauritius will be disadvantaged compared to other countries like Netherlands. There is now more clarity and certainty that existing capital invested into India through Mauritius is less likely to experience disruption. Our discussions and economic diplomacy at the highest level has resulted in clarifications on these important issues. Sidhant Sibal: How might the additional clarity provided by India’s CBDT circular in January 2025, the Income Tax (Amendment) Rules of March 2026 and high-level diplomatic engagements between Prime Ministers Modi and Ramgoolam enhance trading ties and investor confidence for Indian entities routing investments through Mauritius? Jyoti Jeetun: Firstly, the Circular issued on 21 January 2025 by Central Bureau of Direct Taxes in India provided clarity and certainty to investors by guaranteeing the protection of the grandfathered investments and excluding them from the application of the Principal Purpose Test, confirming that the Protocol of 2024 will only apply prospectively. Moreover, the CBDT issued the Income Tax (Amendment) Rules 2026 on 31 March 2026, providing further clarification that the application of the Global Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) shall apply to arrangements made on or after 1 April 2017. Accordingly, investments undertaken before 1 April 2017 will remain outside outside the scope of GAAR, thereby providing clarity on the treatment of legacy investments. The Circular and the Rule issued by CBDT provide legal and tax certainty for investors. The diplomatic engagements at the highest level between our Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are clear demonstration of the strong ties between our two nations. Sidhant Sibal: In what manner does the ratification reinforce Mauritius as a trusted, substance-based international financial centre, thereby improving access for India to quality inbound investment built on transparency and long-term partnership? Jyoti Jeetun: As I said earlier, the India-Mauritius DTAA has been an important foundation of economic relationship between both our countries for more than four decades. It has supported investment in India, strengthened business cooperation and contributed significantly to Mauritius becoming a trusted international financial centre. The Protocol protects legitimate investments while ensuring that Mauritius continues to maintain its reputation as a credible jurisdiction aligned with international standards. It is also important to highlight that it also provides the opportunity for greater collaboration between Mauritius and GIFT City as regards to inbound investment and to position Mauritius as the ideal strategic partner for India for outbound investment into Africa. Sidhant Sibal: What opportunities does the Protocol create for further strengthening trading and economic ties between India and Mauritius while ensuring that Indian investors with demonstrable economic substance continue to benefit from a stable and well-regulated investment jurisdiction? Jyoti Jeetun: The ratification of the Protocol reinforced with the clarifications pave the way for sustainable and substance-driven investment relationship. The preservation of grandfathering protects the legitimate expectations of legacy investors, while the prospective application of the PPT provides a clear framework for future investment. Furthermore, the Protocol creates an opportunity to reposition the Mauritius–India economic relationship around greater certainty, stronger economic substance, and long-term investment cooperation. - Opportunities for strengthening Mauritius–India economic ties The DTAA has historically played a major role in facilitating investment flows into India through Mauritius since the agreement was signed in 1982. The Protocol, together with the clarifications, provides an opportunity to rebuild Mauritius as a trusted and competitive platform for Indian-bound investment, particularly for institutional investors, private equity and other long-term investors. - Moving from treaty shopping towards substance-based investment The PPT provides an opportunity for Mauritius to reinforce the message that its value proposition is not based merely on treaty access. Investors with genuine economic substance, commercial rationale and legitimate investment objectives can continue to use Mauritius as a stable investment jurisdiction. Going forward we are looking to support a higher-quality investment model consistent with international tax standards. - Creating a platform for deeper India–Mauritius investment partnerships With greater certainty around the treaty framework, the relationship can move beyond traditional FDI structuring and more towards private equity, infrastructure, financial services, sustainable finance, fintech, investment funds and Africa-focused investment vehicles. This would support a broader economic partnership between the two countries. - Enhancing Mauritius's role as a bridge between India and Africa This is particularly significant. Mauritius is an African nation, member of the African Union, SADC and COMESA. Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. Indian companies and financial institutions increasingly have interests across Africa. Mauritius offers an established financial ecosystem, investment structures and connectivity with African markets. A stable India–Mauritius framework can therefore support Mauritius strategic partner to channel Indian capital into Africa, creating a three-way economic relationship: India–Mauritius–Africa and reinforcing Global South ties.

The ratification, approved by the Mauritius Cabinet and completed on 17 July 2026, modernises the decades-old treaty that has channelled more than $170 billion in investments into India and helped establish Mauritius as an international financial centre.

Mauritius Minister Jeetun: India-Mauritius treaty gives investors ‘greater confidence’

Municipal authorities in the western German town of Monschau recommended residents living near the Belgian border to evacuate their homes as emergency services combat the most severe wildfire recorded in modern Belgian history on Sunday (Aug 16). The municipality, which serves a total population of approximately 12,000, issued an official public safety advisory urging border-adjacent communities to relocate temporarily. While local officials do not expect the flames to cross into German territory, municipal leadership cited imminent health hazards stemming from dense smoke and severe air pollution as the primary driver behind the advisory. &nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/europe-wildfires-belgium-france-croatia-germany-scorched-by-wildfires-1786857325071/embed">https://www.wionews.com/videos/europe-wildfires-belgium-france-croatia-germany-scorched-by-wildfires-1786857325071/embed</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;According to a formal statement released by the municipality, the active front of the blaze was measured just 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from the German-Belgian national border and 1.8 kilometers from the nearest inhabited structures. Emergency agencies monitored the trajectory of the fire throughout the day as atmospheric conditions pushed heavy smoke concentrations across the frontier.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/wildfires-rage-across-greece-and-croatia-as-tourists-flee-firefighters-battle-flames-and-smoke-1786877594864">Wildfires rage across Greece and Croatia as tourists flee; firefighters battle flames and smoke</a>&nbsp;Cross-border emergency responses escalated rapidly over the weekend. Across the frontier, Belgian authorities enacted mandatory evacuation orders for Kuechelscheid, a residential settlement located roughly a 10-minute drive from Monschau. Public safety agencies in Belgium directed all residents in the affected area to clear the settlement as fire suppression crews worked to establish containment lines around the historic burn zone. The emergency in the German-Belgian border region comes amid a summer marked by prolonged drought and extreme, record-breaking heat across Europe, conditions that have left forests highly combustible and significantly elevated wildfire risks across the continent.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/11-killed-mostly-foreigners-19-missing-in-spain-s-devastating-wildfire-toll-may-go-up-1783684567807">Foreigners among 12 killed, 23 missing in Spain’s devastating wildfire; toll may go up</a>&nbsp;The situation in Monschau marks the second major fire-driven displacement in western Germany within the week. Overnight between Thursday and Friday, emergency management personnel were forced to evacuate approximately 1,800 people in western Germany due to a separate, rapidly advancing wildfire. Local forestry and public safety personnel on both sides of the border remain on high alert as containment efforts continue.&nbsp;

Residents in the German border town of Monschau have been advised to evacuate as Belgium's worst modern wildfire rages less than two kilometers away, sending heavy smoke and pollution toward the region.

Municipal authorities in the western German town of Monschau recommended residents living near the Belgian border to evacuate their homes as emergency services combat the most severe wildfire recorded in modern Belgian history on Sunday (Aug 16). The municipality, which serves a total population of approximately 12,000, issued an official public safety advisory urging border-adjacent communities to relocate temporarily. While local officials do not expect the flames to cross into German territory, municipal leadership cited imminent health hazards stemming from dense smoke and severe air pollution as the primary driver behind the advisory. https://www.wionews.com/videos/europe-wildfires-belgium-france-croatia-germany-scorched-by-wildfires-1786857325071/embed According to a formal statement released by the municipality, the active front of the blaze was measured just 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from the German-Belgian national border and 1.8 kilometers from the nearest inhabited structures. Emergency agencies monitored the trajectory of the fire throughout the day as atmospheric conditions pushed heavy smoke concentrations across the frontier. Also read: Wildfires rage across Greece and Croatia as tourists flee; firefighters battle flames and smoke Cross-border emergency responses escalated rapidly over the weekend. Across the frontier, Belgian authorities enacted mandatory evacuation orders for Kuechelscheid, a residential settlement located roughly a 10-minute drive from Monschau. Public safety agencies in Belgium directed all residents in the affected area to clear the settlement as fire suppression crews worked to establish containment lines around the historic burn zone. The emergency in the German-Belgian border region comes amid a summer marked by prolonged drought and extreme, record-breaking heat across Europe, conditions that have left forests highly combustible and significantly elevated wildfire risks across the continent. Also read: Foreigners among 12 killed, 23 missing in Spain’s devastating wildfire; toll may go up The situation in Monschau marks the second major fire-driven displacement in western Germany within the week. Overnight between Thursday and Friday, emergency management personnel were forced to evacuate approximately 1,800 people in western Germany due to a separate, rapidly advancing wildfire. Local forestry and public safety personnel on both sides of the border remain on high alert as containment efforts continue.

Residents in the German border town of Monschau have been advised to evacuate as Belgium's worst modern wildfire rages less than two kilometers away, sending heavy smoke and pollution toward the region.

Raging wildfire near Belgian border threatens German border village of Gey, 2,000 evacuated

The United States and Israel wiped out almost the entire leadership of Iran in the initial strikes and must have been pleased with the result, but little did Washington know that the leadership vacuum thus created would create a new problem for it later on. The killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior political leaders, in fact, strengthened the IRGC's grip on power.Besides, the uncertainty about the condition of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and his absence from public view further boosted IRGC commanders.&nbsp;Over two months later, around mid-May, US negotiators trying to strike a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a dilemma: they were not sure if the people across the table were actually in touch with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was wielding the real power in Iran.&nbsp;<h2>US taps Nechirvan Barzani for contacting IRGC&nbsp;</h2>&nbsp;After the April 8 ceasefire and a summit in Islamabad, the US and Iran were trying to negotiate an end to the war, and in order to ensure that their efforts were not fruitless, Trump administration officials decided to bypass Iran’s negotiators and reach out directly to IRGC leadership, said an Axios report.&nbsp;And for doing so, they tapped Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who enjoys the trust of both US and IRGC leaders.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/telangana-cm-revanth-reddy-accuses-brs-leaders-of-using-black-magic-to-usurp-power-occult-charges-not-new-in-politics-1786884046815">Telangana CM Revanth Reddy accuses BRS leaders of using ‘black magic’ to usurp power; occult charges not new in politics</a>&nbsp;When the US felt it was closing in on a deal, Iran delayed its response for more than 10 days. It was then that the White House started to think that Iranian negotiators, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, were not empowered to strike a deal and were being overruled.&nbsp;<h2>Then-DNI Tulsi Gabbard called Barzani to set the ball rolling</h2>&nbsp;Around May 10, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called Barzani and told him that the administration thought he could help get in touch with the commander of the IRGC, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi.Barzani, who had lived in Iran and studied at the University of Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, is fluent in Farsi and has personal relationships with senior members of the Iranian regime, including top members of the IRGC.&nbsp;Gabbard made clear to Barzani that she was making the call with the approval of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.Gabbard told Barzani that the White House wanted to know if Vahidi and the IRGC leadership were on board with what Ghalibaf and Araghchi had been negotiating or whether they had other ideas or demands.&nbsp;<h2>‘But I want to talk directly to Gen. Vahidi’</h2>&nbsp;Barzani agreed to Gabbard’s request and reached out to his contacts at the IRGC and said he had a message from the Trump administration.“But I want to talk directly to Gen. Vahidi,” Barzani stressed.The Iranians agreed, and on May 14, an IRGC official arrived in Barzani’s office in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, carrying an encrypted phone for making a secure call.&nbsp;When Barzani asked Vahidi whether he was aligned with the Iranian negotiators, the Iranian general said he was. “I fully support them, and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations,” Vahidi said.Barzani called Gabbard right after his conversation with Vahidi and briefed her on his response. Gabbard, in turn, briefed the White House.&nbsp;The success made the Trump administration come up with another proposal. They asked Barzani if he would host secret talks between US and Iranian negotiators in Erbil.Barzani passed on the message to the Iranians, who did not rule it out but expressed apprehensions about their security.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-middle-east-commander-visits-uss-lincoln-amid-iran-war-gaza-and-lebanon-tensions-1786882278296">US top commander visits USS Lincoln amid Iran war, Gaza and Lebanon tensions</a>&nbsp;<h2>Wary of Israeli threats, Iranians couldn’t agree to Erbil meeting</h2>&nbsp;The Iranians believed Israeli intelligence had many assets in Iraqi Kurdistan and were wary that the Israelis would try to assassinate them in Erbil or while they travelled there and back.Consequently, the Erbil meeting never took place.&nbsp;The developments, detailed by three sources privy to the matter, show how difficult a task has it been for the US to negotiate with Iran.&nbsp;The US and Iran did sign a memorandum of understanding, but it failed.&nbsp;Meanwhile, Pakistani and Qatari mediators continue to exchange messages between the US and Iran without any significant progress. Some believe the Pakistanis are giving more optimistic readouts than the talks justify.

Around mid-May, US negotiators trying to strike a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a dilemma: they were not sure if the people across the table were actually in touch with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was wielding the real power in Iran.

The United States and Israel wiped out almost the entire leadership of Iran in the initial strikes and must have been pleased with the result, but little did Washington know that the leadership vacuum thus created would create a new problem for it later on. The killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior political leaders, in fact, strengthened the IRGC's grip on power. Besides, the uncertainty about the condition of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and his absence from public view further boosted IRGC commanders. Over two months later, around mid-May, US negotiators trying to strike a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a dilemma: they were not sure if the people across the table were actually in touch with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was wielding the real power in Iran. US taps Nechirvan Barzani for contacting IRGC After the April 8 ceasefire and a summit in Islamabad, the US and Iran were trying to negotiate an end to the war, and in order to ensure that their efforts were not fruitless, Trump administration officials decided to bypass Iran’s negotiators and reach out directly to IRGC leadership, said an Axios report. And for doing so, they tapped Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, who enjoys the trust of both US and IRGC leaders. Also Read: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy accuses BRS leaders of using ‘black magic’ to usurp power; occult charges not new in politics When the US felt it was closing in on a deal, Iran delayed its response for more than 10 days. It was then that the White House started to think that Iranian negotiators, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, were not empowered to strike a deal and were being overruled. Then-DNI Tulsi Gabbard called Barzani to set the ball rolling Around May 10, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called Barzani and told him that the administration thought he could help get in touch with the commander of the IRGC, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Barzani, who had lived in Iran and studied at the University of Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, is fluent in Farsi and has personal relationships with senior members of the Iranian regime, including top members of the IRGC. Gabbard made clear to Barzani that she was making the call with the approval of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Gabbard told Barzani that the White House wanted to know if Vahidi and the IRGC leadership were on board with what Ghalibaf and Araghchi had been negotiating or whether they had other ideas or demands. ‘But I want to talk directly to Gen. Vahidi’ Barzani agreed to Gabbard’s request and reached out to his contacts at the IRGC and said he had a message from the Trump administration. “But I want to talk directly to Gen. Vahidi,” Barzani stressed. The Iranians agreed, and on May 14, an IRGC official arrived in Barzani’s office in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, carrying an encrypted phone for making a secure call. When Barzani asked Vahidi whether he was aligned with the Iranian negotiators, the Iranian general said he was. “I fully support them, and this is also the position of the IRGC. We prefer to solve this crisis through negotiations,” Vahidi said. Barzani called Gabbard right after his conversation with Vahidi and briefed her on his response. Gabbard, in turn, briefed the White House. The success made the Trump administration come up with another proposal. They asked Barzani if he would host secret talks between US and Iranian negotiators in Erbil. Barzani passed on the message to the Iranians, who did not rule it out but expressed apprehensions about their security. Also Read: US top commander visits USS Lincoln amid Iran war, Gaza and Lebanon tensions Wary of Israeli threats, Iranians couldn’t agree to Erbil meeting The Iranians believed Israeli intelligence had many assets in Iraqi Kurdistan and were wary that the Israelis would try to assassinate them in Erbil or while they travelled there and back. Consequently, the Erbil meeting never took place. The developments, detailed by three sources privy to the matter, show how difficult a task has it been for the US to negotiate with Iran. The US and Iran did sign a memorandum of understanding, but it failed. Meanwhile, Pakistani and Qatari mediators continue to exchange messages between the US and Iran without any significant progress. Some believe the Pakistanis are giving more optimistic readouts than the talks justify.

Around mid-May, US negotiators trying to strike a deal with Iran to end the war ran into a dilemma: they were not sure if the people across the table were actually in touch with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was wielding the real power in Iran.

After May stalemate, US manoeuvred to communicate directly with IRGC top commander

Iran's judiciary executed Shahram Sadeghi on Sunday (Aug 16) following his conviction for allegedly striking multiple police officers with a car during anti-government protests in Karaj on January 8. The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online reported that Sadeghi was sentenced to death for executing an operational act in support of Israel and the United States, injuring seven officers in the incident.&nbsp;&nbsp;The unrest originated in late December over soaring inflation and economic hardship, escalating into widespread anti-government demonstrations that reached a peak on January 8 and 9. Iranian authorities stated that over 3,000 people died during the unrest, attributing the violence to state-sponsored terrorism backed by the United States and Israel. Conversely, foreign rights groups reported that Iranian security forces fired directly upon demonstrators.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-executes-two-protesters-isfahan-january-2026-unrest-1785238730473">Iran publicly executes two protesters in Isfahan over January unrest</a>&nbsp;Capital punishment rates in Iran surged following the outbreak of the West Asia war on February 28, initiated by US-Israeli military strikes against Iranian targets. A substantial proportion of these subsequent executions involved individuals connected to the winter protest movement.&nbsp;Human rights tracking organisations, including Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), recorded at least 1,639 executions in Iran last year which is the highest single-year total recorded since 1989. Amnesty International ranks Iran second globally in total annual executions, trailing only China.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/-hand-on-the-trigger-iran-vows-to-treat-anti-war-protesters-as-enemies-of-the-state-iran-war-us-israelhamenei-1773218587340">‘Hand on the trigger’: Iran vows to treat anti-war protesters as ‘enemies of the state’</a>&nbsp;Amid the turbulence in the West Asia, Iran has struck its neighbouring regions. After Iran declared the death of its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan slammed the nation for targeting its neighbours with missiles. The president asked Iran to act accordingly, reinforcing the idea that Tehran is not at war with neighbours like the UAE.&nbsp;Following the joint US-Israel military action that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has vowed to avenge his death. The country has gone all guns blazing at its neighbours. Speaking to the news outlet Sky News, Anwar Gargash, the president's advisor to the UAE President, highlighted how Tehran’s position lacks clarity and a rational vision. He also characterised the attacks as blatant and irresponsible.&nbsp;

Iranian authorities have executed Shahram Sadeghi over his alleged involvement in anti-government winter protests.

Iran's judiciary executed Shahram Sadeghi on Sunday (Aug 16) following his conviction for allegedly striking multiple police officers with a car during anti-government protests in Karaj on January 8. The Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online reported that Sadeghi was sentenced to death for executing an operational act in support of Israel and the United States, injuring seven officers in the incident. The unrest originated in late December over soaring inflation and economic hardship, escalating into widespread anti-government demonstrations that reached a peak on January 8 and 9. Iranian authorities stated that over 3,000 people died during the unrest, attributing the violence to state-sponsored terrorism backed by the United States and Israel. Conversely, foreign rights groups reported that Iranian security forces fired directly upon demonstrators. Also read: Iran publicly executes two protesters in Isfahan over January unrest Capital punishment rates in Iran surged following the outbreak of the West Asia war on February 28, initiated by US-Israeli military strikes against Iranian targets. A substantial proportion of these subsequent executions involved individuals connected to the winter protest movement. Human rights tracking organisations, including Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), recorded at least 1,639 executions in Iran last year which is the highest single-year total recorded since 1989. Amnesty International ranks Iran second globally in total annual executions, trailing only China. Also read: ‘Hand on the trigger’: Iran vows to treat anti-war protesters as ‘enemies of the state’ Amid the turbulence in the West Asia, Iran has struck its neighbouring regions. After Iran declared the death of its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan slammed the nation for targeting its neighbours with missiles. The president asked Iran to act accordingly, reinforcing the idea that Tehran is not at war with neighbours like the UAE. Following the joint US-Israel military action that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has vowed to avenge his death. The country has gone all guns blazing at its neighbours. Speaking to the news outlet Sky News, Anwar Gargash, the president's advisor to the UAE President, highlighted how Tehran’s position lacks clarity and a rational vision. He also characterised the attacks as blatant and irresponsible.

Iranian authorities have executed Shahram Sadeghi over his alleged involvement in anti-government winter protests.

Iran executes man over involvement in anti-government protests

Iran's parliament has approved a controversial bill that would criminalise interviews and other communications with foreign media outlets considered hostile to the Islamic Republic, according to Iran's Shargh newspaper. The bill, which still requires review by the Guardian Council before it can become law, would prohibit interviews and participation in discussions with media outlets deemed hostile, including US and Israeli media and organisations financed by either country. Violations could result in prison sentences ranging from six months to two years.&nbsp;Under the proposed legislation, Iranian citizens seeking to give interviews to other foreign media organisations would have to notify the intelligence ministry. The bill would also impose restrictions on contact with foreign embassies, offices of foreign organisations and other non-Iranian institutions. Such contact without notification and written permission from the foreign ministry could lead to fines and the loss of certain social rights.&nbsp;The proposed law goes beyond media restrictions. It would increase penalties for economic crimes committed under the direction or supervision of foreigners and prohibit individuals from providing information to foreign parties without approval from the intelligence ministry. Scientific cooperation with foreign institutions would also be restricted to organisations included on an approved list.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/cholera-outbreak-spreads-across-yangon-as-more-than-180-people-hospitalised-1786885971677">Cholera outbreak spreads across Yangon as more than 180 people hospitalised</a>&nbsp;The legislation further targets policy or legislative proposals allegedly made under the direction of foreign intelligence services. If such proposals are considered harmful to Iran's security or independence, offenders could face prison terms of up to 30 years. Cases brought under the proposed legislation would be handled by Iran's Revolutionary Courts.&nbsp;The move is not the first time Iran has introduced criminal penalties for cooperation with foreign entities. A law passed in 2025 following a 12-day war with Israel introduced tougher penalties for alleged cooperation with hostile states. The latest development comes amid heightened scrutiny of journalists and other professionals accused of maintaining ties with foreign organisations.&nbsp;Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery was sentenced this month to 15 years under the 2025 law. The allegations against her included giving interviews to media deemed hostile and providing photographs to US and Israel-linked organisations. The bill will need to clear the Guardian Council before it can take effect as law.

Iran parliament approves bill criminalising contact with hostile foreign media, tightening restrictions on journalists, foreign organisations and cooperation

Iran's parliament has approved a controversial bill that would criminalise interviews and other communications with foreign media outlets considered hostile to the Islamic Republic, according to Iran's Shargh newspaper. The bill, which still requires review by the Guardian Council before it can become law, would prohibit interviews and participation in discussions with media outlets deemed hostile, including US and Israeli media and organisations financed by either country. Violations could result in prison sentences ranging from six months to two years. Under the proposed legislation, Iranian citizens seeking to give interviews to other foreign media organisations would have to notify the intelligence ministry. The bill would also impose restrictions on contact with foreign embassies, offices of foreign organisations and other non-Iranian institutions. Such contact without notification and written permission from the foreign ministry could lead to fines and the loss of certain social rights. The proposed law goes beyond media restrictions. It would increase penalties for economic crimes committed under the direction or supervision of foreigners and prohibit individuals from providing information to foreign parties without approval from the intelligence ministry. Scientific cooperation with foreign institutions would also be restricted to organisations included on an approved list. Also Read: Cholera outbreak spreads across Yangon as more than 180 people hospitalised The legislation further targets policy or legislative proposals allegedly made under the direction of foreign intelligence services. If such proposals are considered harmful to Iran's security or independence, offenders could face prison terms of up to 30 years. Cases brought under the proposed legislation would be handled by Iran's Revolutionary Courts. The move is not the first time Iran has introduced criminal penalties for cooperation with foreign entities. A law passed in 2025 following a 12-day war with Israel introduced tougher penalties for alleged cooperation with hostile states. The latest development comes amid heightened scrutiny of journalists and other professionals accused of maintaining ties with foreign organisations. Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery was sentenced this month to 15 years under the 2025 law. The allegations against her included giving interviews to media deemed hostile and providing photographs to US and Israel-linked organisations. The bill will need to clear the Guardian Council before it can take effect as law.

Iran's parliament approves a bill criminalising contact with hostile foreign media, with prison terms of up to 30 years for some foreign-linked offences

Iran parliament approves bill criminalising contact with 'hostile' US, Israeli media

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi will travel to India next week for high-level talks, marking a further step in the growing security cooperation between the two nations. Koizumi is scheduled to meet Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 20 August. The visit forms part of a two-nation tour that will also take him to Australia. During his stay in India, he is expected to visit a naval base, as maritime focus in ties gain a new momentum. The visit comes weeks after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was in Delhi for the annual summit with PM Modi as both sides agreed to deepen defence and security cooperation.&nbsp;India and Japan have steadily expanded defence cooperation in recent years. At last year’s annual summit the two countries adopted a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation. They already take part in a range of joint exercises: the naval drill JAIMEX 25, the army exercise Dharma Guardian, and the air force fighter exercise Veer Guardian. Japan also participated in the International Fleet Review 2026 held in Visakhapatnam.&nbsp;Officials on both sides are pushing for deeper maritime security collaboration. This includes more frequent exercises, improved maritime domain awareness through satellite capabilities, naval maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work, and closer defence equipment and technology cooperation under India’s “Make in India” framework. A significant shift came earlier this year when Japan overhauled its long-standing restrictions on defence exports. Tokyo reviewed the “Three Principles” that had tightly limited the transfer of defence equipment and technology since the Cold War era. The change allows Japan to supply lethal military hardware and advanced systems to trusted partners such as India.&nbsp;India formally welcomed the move. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in April: “India welcomes Japan’s review of the three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology. Defense and security cooperation forms an important pillar of India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.” He noted that both sides had committed to practical cooperation for national security and economic resilience, including technological and industrial collaboration between government and private sector partners.&nbsp;One concrete project is already advancing. The two countries have reached agreement in principle on technical details for the Unified Complex Radio Antenna, known as UNICORN, a stealth technology system for warships. Officials expressed hope for an early conclusion of the project and agreed to explore other joint defence equipment and technology initiatives.&nbsp;A 2+2 dialogue involving foreign and defence ministers from both countries is expected to take place by the end of 2026, providing another platform to advance the partnership. The visit comes as both nations seek to strengthen their roles in the Indo-Pacific. For Japan, the policy change marks a clear departure from post-war pacifism. For India, closer ties with Tokyo offer access to advanced technology and a reliable partner amid regional security challenges.

The visit forms part of a two-nation tour that will also take him to Australia. During his stay in India, he is expected to visit a naval base, as maritime focus in ties gain a new momentum

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi will travel to India next week for high-level talks, marking a further step in the growing security cooperation between the two nations. Koizumi is scheduled to meet Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 20 August. The visit forms part of a two-nation tour that will also take him to Australia. During his stay in India, he is expected to visit a naval base, as maritime focus in ties gain a new momentum. The visit comes weeks after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was in Delhi for the annual summit with PM Modi as both sides agreed to deepen defence and security cooperation. India and Japan have steadily expanded defence cooperation in recent years. At last year’s annual summit the two countries adopted a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation. They already take part in a range of joint exercises: the naval drill JAIMEX 25, the army exercise Dharma Guardian, and the air force fighter exercise Veer Guardian. Japan also participated in the International Fleet Review 2026 held in Visakhapatnam. Officials on both sides are pushing for deeper maritime security collaboration. This includes more frequent exercises, improved maritime domain awareness through satellite capabilities, naval maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work, and closer defence equipment and technology cooperation under India’s “Make in India” framework. A significant shift came earlier this year when Japan overhauled its long-standing restrictions on defence exports. Tokyo reviewed the “Three Principles” that had tightly limited the transfer of defence equipment and technology since the Cold War era. The change allows Japan to supply lethal military hardware and advanced systems to trusted partners such as India. India formally welcomed the move. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in April: “India welcomes Japan’s review of the three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology. Defense and security cooperation forms an important pillar of India-Japan special strategic and global partnership.” He noted that both sides had committed to practical cooperation for national security and economic resilience, including technological and industrial collaboration between government and private sector partners. One concrete project is already advancing. The two countries have reached agreement in principle on technical details for the Unified Complex Radio Antenna, known as UNICORN, a stealth technology system for warships. Officials expressed hope for an early conclusion of the project and agreed to explore other joint defence equipment and technology initiatives. A 2+2 dialogue involving foreign and defence ministers from both countries is expected to take place by the end of 2026, providing another platform to advance the partnership. The visit comes as both nations seek to strengthen their roles in the Indo-Pacific. For Japan, the policy change marks a clear departure from post-war pacifism. For India, closer ties with Tokyo offer access to advanced technology and a reliable partner amid regional security challenges.

The visit forms part of a two-nation tour that will also take him to Australia. During his stay in India, he is expected to visit a naval base, as maritime focus in ties gain a new momentum

Japanese defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi to visit India next week for key talks with defence minister Rajnath Singh

Iran's military has formally announced a financial bounty equivalent to $30,000 for the capture or death of American soldiers. The official release highlighted a unique condition: the reward will be completely doubled if the act is successfully executed by a woman. According to reports from the IRNA state news agency, Iranian Army chief Amir Hatami explained that this aggressive initiative was officially established following "the large number of requests" from individuals seeking to actively participate in financial support efforts for the military cause.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/iran-3-pilots-captured-by-qatari-forces-after-their-su-24-jets-crashed-1786849233939/embed">https://www.wionews.com/videos/iran-3-pilots-captured-by-qatari-forces-after-their-su-24-jets-crashed-1786849233939/embed</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Despite the high-profile announcement, Hatami did not outline specific operational details or target regions regarding where or when these actions against US personnel were expected to take place. While fighting has taken place during the West Asia war, there is no known deployment of US ground forces inside Iran, aside from an April rescue mission conducted for a downed American pilot. Hatami omitted specific details regarding where or when the targeted capture or killing of American forces should occur. "Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army," Hatami declared. The sum references an informal currency unit equal to 10,000 Iranian rials.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/worry-about-his-own-security-iran-official-s-warning-to-trump-amid-claims-on-hormuz-1786861766545">'Worry about his own security': Iran official's warning to Trump amid claims on Hormuz</a>&nbsp;"Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward," he added. The conflict involving Washington and Tehran initiated on February 28 following an attack on Iran launched by the United States and Israel. A ceasefire was subsequently established in April after nearly 40 days of active combat, followed by a June framework intended for peace negotiations that eventually collapsed.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-urges-qatar-to-release-pilots-shot-down-in-middle-east-war-doha-denies-detention-1786822756273">Iran urges Qatar to release pilots shot down in Middle East war; Doha denies detention</a>&nbsp;Since the breakdown of those talks, Iran and the United States have engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire. This ongoing military friction remains primarily concentrated in southern Iran as well as the surrounding area of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's military has announced a $30,000 bounty for anyone who kills or captures US soldiers, offering to double the reward if executed by women. Read the full details on the army chief's statement. 

Iran's military has formally announced a financial bounty equivalent to $30,000 for the capture or death of American soldiers. The official release highlighted a unique condition: the reward will be completely doubled if the act is successfully executed by a woman. According to reports from the IRNA state news agency, Iranian Army chief Amir Hatami explained that this aggressive initiative was officially established following "the large number of requests" from individuals seeking to actively participate in financial support efforts for the military cause. https://www.wionews.com/videos/iran-3-pilots-captured-by-qatari-forces-after-their-su-24-jets-crashed-1786849233939/embed Despite the high-profile announcement, Hatami did not outline specific operational details or target regions regarding where or when these actions against US personnel were expected to take place. While fighting has taken place during the West Asia war, there is no known deployment of US ground forces inside Iran, aside from an April rescue mission conducted for a downed American pilot. Hatami omitted specific details regarding where or when the targeted capture or killing of American forces should occur. "Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army," Hatami declared. The sum references an informal currency unit equal to 10,000 Iranian rials. Also read: 'Worry about his own security': Iran official's warning to Trump amid claims on Hormuz "Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward," he added. The conflict involving Washington and Tehran initiated on February 28 following an attack on Iran launched by the United States and Israel. A ceasefire was subsequently established in April after nearly 40 days of active combat, followed by a June framework intended for peace negotiations that eventually collapsed. Also read: Iran urges Qatar to release pilots shot down in Middle East war; Doha denies detention Since the breakdown of those talks, Iran and the United States have engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire. This ongoing military friction remains primarily concentrated in southern Iran as well as the surrounding area of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's military has announced a $30,000 bounty for anyone who kills or captures US soldiers, offering to double the reward if executed by women. Read the full details on the army chief's statement.

Iran offers $30,000 bounty for killing US soldiers and doubles it for female fighters

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