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Italy Pulls Back Naval Escort From Gaza-Bound Flotilla Amid Attack Fears
Italy’s defence ministry announced Tuesday that its navy will withdraw from escorting the Gaza-bound flotilla once the vessels approach within 150 nautical miles (278 km) of the enclave, citing security risks of a possible Israeli strike.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of more than 40 civilian boats carrying parliamentarians, lawyers, and activists — including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg — is seeking to challenge Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza.
Once the convoy reaches the 150 nautical miles limit, the Italian frigate accompanying it will stop, “as communicated several times in recent days,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ship will issue two warnings to activists, with the second and final one foreseen at around 00:00 GMT, when the flotilla is expected to get within the stated distance, the statement added.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Italian spokeswoman for the flotilla, Maria Elena Delia, said that activists had been informed about the government’s plans to have the navy ship stop and turn back to avoid “a diplomatic incident” with Israel.
She said the flotilla had no intention of heeding Italy’s warnings not to get closer to the shore.
Italy and Spain deployed navy vessels last week to assist the flotilla, after it was hit by drones armed with stun grenades and irritants in international waters off Greece, but without any intention to engage militarily.
Delia said activists were bracing for another strike in the coming hours. “Israel will probably attack us tonight, because all the signals point to this happening,” she said in a video on Instagram.
Israel did not respond to flotilla accusations that it was behind last week’s attacks, but it has vowed to use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing that its blockade is legal as part of its war against Hamas militants.
Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said he expects flotilla boats to be intercepted in the open sea and activists to face arrest.
On Tuesday, Crosetto made a “last appeal” to flotilla members to accept a compromise proposal to drop aid in Cyprus and avoid a confrontation with Israeli forces. Flotilla representatives have repeatedly refused the offer.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive has since killed over 66,000 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Spain Proposes Law Against Indirect Gender-Based Violence
On Tuesday, the Spanish government put forward a new law on gender-based violence, proposing that it be treated as a separate offence when an abuser targets someone close to the victim — such as a child, parent, or even a pet — with the intention of inflicting deeper emotional trauma.
A draft bill seeks to codify so-called “vicarious”, or indirect, gender-based violence committed to intimidate, control, punish or extract revenge. Mexico passed similar legislation at the federal level in late 2023.
‘Promoting Real Equality’
Spain’s centre-left government has made women’s rights a priority, tightening laws on sexual consent and gender violence, expanding protections and funding for victims and pressing businesses to close pay gaps and boost female leadership.
“These measures aim to … once again put Spain at the forefront of policies promoting real equality,” Equality Minister Ana Redondo told reporters.
The legislation’s goal is to protect victims but also to raise awareness within Spanish society of “such radical, savage, inconceivable violence”, she added.
Government data identifies 65 minors as killed in cases of vicarious violence since 2013, when authorities started recording the phenomenon.
Still A Long Way To Go
The draft bill is still subject to public consultation and advisory reports before final cabinet approval. It will then be sent to parliament, where it requires an absolute majority to become law.
The proposed changes to the criminal code would carry a prison sentence of up to three years.
They also include a new penalty for “publishing information or documents produced directly or indirectly by the perpetrator to continue causing pain and damage to the victim’s moral integrity”, according to Redondo.
This appeared to be a reaction to the unpublished book “Hatred”, which recounts the testimony of a man who killed both his children in 2011 after his wife filed for divorce.
Public outcry over the book led its publisher to cancel the planned release earlier this year.
(With inputs from Reuters)
US And France Team Up In Orbit To Counter China’s Space Buildup
The United States and France are escalating their joint efforts in space to counter China‘s expanding military capabilities, a senior U.S. general disclosed to Reuters.
This push involves planning a second coordinated mission of joint satellite manoeuvre in orbit, aiming to significantly sharpen allied spying and operational capabilities.
This would mark the Pentagon’s third known orbital mission with an ally, following a successful joint manoeuver with France late last year and a more recent one with the UK earlier this month.
Space is an increasingly contested military domain, as a soaring number of satellites crucial for communications, missile warning and battlefield intelligence face threats from the world’s top space powers. China, Russia and the U.S. have demonstrated anti-satellite weapons and launched maneuverable spacecraft, raising worries that an attack during conflict could disrupt GPS navigation or sever channels of communication relied upon by forces on Earth.
Maneuvering spacecraft with sharper precision and marshalling international alliances have become key fronts in what officials regard as a new global space race, with the U.S. and its allies facing intense rivalry from China and Russia.
“We are planning an effort with France right now,” Lieutenant General Douglas Schiess, commander of a U.S. Space Force component that works with Space Command to conduct secretive military space operations, told Reuters in an interview. He did not elaborate.
France is Europe’s largest government spender on space. Further operations with other nations could follow, he said, adding, “I can see us doing more.”
Western military space officials, including ones from Europe as well as the U.S. and Canada, have been issuing warnings about the increase of threats in space to a range of satellites, from military assets to commercial satellite constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink that collectively are used by hundreds of millions globally.
French Space Command declined to comment on any plans. Of the first operation, it said it is training with the United States to strengthen cooperation, learn how to coordinate action and to “demonstrate our strategic solidarity.”
French Space Command “needs to prepare for military space operations in a real-life scenario,” the unit said.
When asked about the initial operation in a recent Reuters interview in Paris, the unit’s commander, Major General Vincent Chusseau, declined to discuss details but said “we consider it a success.”
That initial exercise, known as a rendezvous and proximity operation, involved a U.S. and a French military satellite approaching each other near a “strategic competitor’s” spacecraft, U.S. Space Command commander Stephen Whiting revealed in April. Schiess declined to identify the third nearby satellite in his interview with Reuters last week.
In a second operation conducted between September 4 and September 12, a U.S. Space Command-operated satellite moved to check whether a British military communications satellite called SKYNET 5A was operating in orbit as intended, according to the UK.
Both satellites were in geostationary orbit – at an altitude of nearly 36,000 kilometers above the Earth – and involved both satellites traveling at around three kilometers per second, the UK said.
While the two countries did not identify which U.S. satellite was involved in the operation with Britain, a commercial provider of space situational awareness software, called Comspoc, said it observed a highly maneuverable U.S. surveillance satellite called USA 271 move close to the UK’s SKYNET 5A between September 5 and September 11.
When the operation was announced last week, the head of UK Space Command, Major General Paul Tedman, said the operation was a first of its kind for his unit and “represents a significant increase in operational capability.” He added: “We are now, with our allies, conducting advanced orbital operations to protect and defend our shared national and military interests in space.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Funding Stalemate Pushes US Government To The Brink Of Shutdown
The U.S. government is hurtling toward its 15th shutdown since 1981 as Tuesday’s midnight deadline looms without a funding deal in sight.
Deep partisan divides—and a near complete lack of negotiation—between Republicans and Democrats in Congress have paralyzed efforts to fund federal agencies.
With the Republican-controlled Senate expected to vote again on a temporary spending bill that already failed once, there is little hope of averting the shutdown before time runs out.
Democrats want to modify the bill to extend health benefits for millions of Americans that are due to expire at the end of the year. Republicans say they must tackle that issue separately.
“We’ll have plenty of time for all the policy debates,” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said on CNBC. “But you have to keep the government open to do it.”
Federal agencies, meanwhile, issued detailed plans that would close offices conducting scientific research, customer service, and other activities not deemed essential and send thousands of workers home if Congress does not agree on a fix before funding expires.
Shutdown Could Impact Flights
Airlines warned that a shutdown could slow flights, while the Labor Department said it would not issue its monthly unemployment report, a closely watched barometer of economic health. The Small Business Administration said it would stop issuing loans, while the Environmental Protection Agency said it would suspend some pollution-cleanup efforts.
Democrats sought to drive a wedge between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress, saying the president showed an interest in extending a tax break that lowers health costs for 24 million Americans at a White House meeting on Monday.
Trump himself followed up late Monday by posting a deepfake video showing manipulated images of Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer appearing to criticize Democrats while top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries stood next to him, with a crudely drawn sombrero and mustache imposed over his face.
Speaking to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, Jeffries responded to Trump’s post: “The next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.”
Any last-minute agreement would also have to be approved by the Republican-controlled House, which is not due to convene until Wednesday, after funding expires.
Budget-related showdowns have become a routine feature in Washington as the nation’s politics have grown increasingly dysfunctional, though they are often resolved at the last minute. The government last shut down for 35 days in 2018 and 2019, during Trump’s first term, due to a dispute over immigration.
At issue now is $1.7 trillion that funds agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of the government’s total $7 trillion budget. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
More Layoffs?
Trump’s willingness to ignore spending laws passed by Congress has injected more uncertainty this time around, and he has threatened to extend his purge of the federal workforce if Congress allows the government to shut down.
In the spring, he ordered federal agencies to consider firing “nonessential” employees who normally would be ordered not to work during a shutdown.
“We may do a lot, and that’s only because of the Democrats,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Trump has also refused to spend billions of dollars approved by Congress, prompting some Democrats to question why they should vote for any spending legislation at all. Though Republicans control both chambers of Congress, they need at least seven Democratic votes to pass legislation out of the Senate.
Along with the extended health subsidies, Democrats have also sought to ensure that Trump will not be able to undo those changes if they are signed into law.
Locked out of power in Washington, Democrats are under pressure from their frustrated supporters to score a rare victory ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s term. The healthcare push has given them a chance to unite behind an issue that resonates with voters.
Still, some in the party have questioned whether it is worth risking a shutdown.
“It’s not about politics or who gets blamed for it. It’s about the damage to millions of Americans,” Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania told reporters.
(With inputs from Reuters)
US Defence Secretary Hegseth Tells Commanders To Back His Agenda Or Resign
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a blistering attack on senior military leadership Tuesday, denouncing what he called “fat generals” and diversity policies that weakened the armed forces, and warning top officers they should step down if they refuse to support his agenda.
“Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department,'” Hegseth said as he opened a rare gathering of generals and admirals. “But not anymore,” he added.
The defence chief defended his recent purge of senior brass — including the dismissal of the top U.S. general, who is Black, and the Navy’s top admiral, a woman — arguing they embodied a culture of failure.
Addressing a room full of America‘s top generals and admirals, summoned from around the world without explanation last week, Hegseth defended his firings of flag officers, which include the top U.S. general, who is Black, and the Navy’s top admiral, who is a woman. He said the officers he relieved were part of a broken culture.
He promised sweeping changes to how discrimination complaints are handled and how accusations of wrongdoing are investigated at the Pentagon, saying the current system has top brass walking on “egg shells.”
“If the words I’m speaking today are making your hearts sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign,” Hegseth said.
“I know the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full.”
Hegseth criticized the look of overweight troops, saying: “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.”
He said all fitness tests would be set to male benchmarks only and emphasized the importance of grooming standards.
“The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos,” Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence.
Trump Echoes Hegseth
President Donald Trump, as he departed for the event, told reporters on Tuesday that he would fire military leaders on the spot if he did not like them.
Trump then opened with a joke as he took the stage for a speech that lasted more than an hour, saying: “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room, of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.”
But he then spoke warmly of the military, in sometimes-wandering remarks that touched on issues like the prowess of U.S. nuclear submarines but also included fierce criticism of the media, former President Joe Biden and Venezuela.
He echoed Hegseth when he turned his attention to his opposition to diversity initiatives.
“Merit. Everything’s based on merit. You’re all based on merit. We’re not going to have somebody taking your place for political reasons, because they are politically correct and you’re not,” Trump said.
“I am with you. I support you, and as president, I have your backs 100%,” Trump said.
The auditorium was filled with senior uniformed officials, seated in front of a stage with a large American flag, a lectern and boards that read: “Strength. Service. America.”
As Trump spoke, several officers sat looking expressionless, and the room was far quieter than the crowds at Trump’s usual gatherings. A naval officer took notes.
The U.S. military is meant to be apolitical, loyal to the U.S. Constitution and independent of any party or political movement. That creates pressure on the commanders to avoid reacting to overtly political comments, by Trump or Hegseth.
Revamp Or Defence Priorities?
The Pentagon has undergone eight months of blistering changes since Trump took office, including firings, banning books from academy libraries and ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug boats off Venezuela.
“If you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence,” Trump told the audience.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” reverting to a title it held until after World War Two when officials sought to emphasize the Pentagon’s role in preventing conflict. The name change will require congressional approval.
The administration has announced a plan to send National Guard deployments to Chicago, the latest U.S. city where Trump aims to deploy U.S. troops despite objections from local authorities.
Trump announced plans to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, over the weekend and sent Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles earlier this year, despite protests from local officials.
He acknowledged discomfort among his opponents for deploying the military on U.S. streets, but said America was in the grips of what he described as a war from within waged by illegal immigrants who his administration is seeking to deport.
“America is under invasion from within. We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don’t wear uniforms,” Trump said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Sets 72-Hour Deadline For Hamas on Gaza Peace Plan
U.S. President Donald Trump has given Hamas three to four days to accept his 20-point Gaza peace proposal, warning of “severe consequences” if the group rejects the terms.
Announced on Sunday, the plan calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, disarmament of Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. It also outlines a post-war transitional authority with Trump himself in a central oversight role.
“All of the Arab countries are signed up. The Muslim countries are signed up. Israel is signed up. We’re just waiting for Hamas,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “If it’s not accepted, it’s going to be a very sad end.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appearing alongside Trump, endorsed the proposal but warned that Israel would continue the war if Hamas refused or undermined the agreement.
“If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they accept it and then counter it in practice, Israel will finish the job by itself,” Netanyahu said.
Hamas leaders have begun consultations on the proposal with their political and military wings inside Gaza and abroad. A Palestinian official told AFP that discussions “could take several days due to the complexities.”
The conflict, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,219 people in Israel, has left much of Gaza in ruins. According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 66,055 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its offensive.
Trump described the unveiling of his plan as “a beautiful day — potentially one of the greatest days ever in civilisation.”
The coming days are expected to be decisive as Hamas weighs whether to accept or reject the proposal, with regional powers including Egypt and Qatar urging the group to engage.
(With inputs from IBNS)
North Korea Declares To UN It Will Never Abandon Nuclear Programme
North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday that the country will never abandon its nuclear programme, calling such demands “tantamount to asking it to surrender its sovereignty and right to exist.”
It was the first time North Korea had dispatched an official from Pyongyang to address the annual gathering of world leaders for the General Assembly since the country’s foreign minister travelled to New York in 2018.
“Imposition of ‘denuclearisation’ on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence and violate the Constitution,” said Kim, referring to the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We will never give up sovereignty, abandon the right to existence and violate the Constitution.”
“Thanks to our state’s enhanced physical war deterrent in direct proportion to the growing threat of aggression of the U.S. and its allies, the will of the enemy states to provoke a war is thoroughly contained and the balance of power on the Korean peninsula is ensured,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that he wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year. Since Trump’s January inauguration, Kim has ignored Trump’s repeated calls to revive the direct diplomacy he pursued during his 2017-2021 term in office, which produced no deal to halt North Korea’s nuclear program.
‘Never Walk Away’
However, last week, Kim said there was no reason to avoid talks with the U.S. if Washington stopped insisting his country give up nuclear weapons, but he would never abandon the nuclear arsenal to end sanctions, state media reported.
“We will never give up nuclear, which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position,” the vice foreign minister told the U.N. General Assembly.
North Korea has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
But Russia and China now insist that U.N. sanctions on North Korea should be eased on humanitarian grounds and in a bid to convince Pyongyang to restart negotiations.
Russia has also forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since invading Ukraine in February 2022, and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim have visited each other’s countries. Russia is to battle Ukrainian forces.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Morocco Cracks Down On Youth-Led Protests Over Health, Education
A heavy security presence prevented youth-led protests for a third consecutive day on Monday evening across multiple cities in Morocco, where demonstrators have been seeking to mobilise support for improvements to the public health and education systems.
The protests were organised online by a loosely formed anonymous youth group calling itself “GenZ 212,” using platforms including TikTok, Instagram and gaming application Discord.
The government and judicial authorities have not yet communicated on the incidents and arrests, and the interior ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
On Monday evening, dozens were arrested as authorities prevented the group from holding protests in cities including Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Tangier and Oujda.
In Rabat, a Reuters witness saw plainclothes officers arresting young protesters as they tried to chant slogans or speak to the press.
Protesters Revive 2011 Slogan
The president of a child protection association, Najat Anouar, was arrested as she was speaking to the media and released two hours later.
“I came here to investigate allegations that the underage have been arrested and got arrested myself,” she told Reuters.
One group of protesters in downtown Rabat briefly managed to shout “freedom, dignity, and social justice”, a slogan echoing the 2011 demonstrations that prompted a constitutional reform devolving more powers from the Moroccan monarchy to the elected government.
“We want a better health system and accountability,” said Brahim, 25, moments before fleeing as police sought to prevent people from joining the protest.
On Sunday night in Casablanca, protesters briefly blocked a major highway, while in Agadir, videos circulating on social media showed police dispersing students near the university campus.
The recent wave of youth anger was sparked by earlier protests in Agadir over poor hospital conditions, which quickly spread to other cities.
Demonstrators have denounced inadequate care, understaffed facilities, and a lack of medical resources.
Morocco’s unemployment rate stands at 12.8%, with youth unemployment reaching 35.8% and 19% among graduates, according to the national statistics agency.
(With inputs from Reuters)
UK PM Starmer Urges Unity To Win ‘Fight For The Soul’ Of Britain
Britain‘s Prime Minister Keir Starmer will urge Labour Party members to unite on Tuesday, describing their mission as a “fight for the soul of our country,” warning it will be long, challenging, and at times uncomfortable.
At his party’s second annual conference in the northern English city of Liverpool, since winning power at a landslide election last year, Starmer needs to re-establish his authority over a party that is increasingly restive after falling far behind the populist Reform UK in opinion polls.
The British leader will try to flesh out his strategy to deal with the growing popularity of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s Reform, after some in Labour said he was tacking too far to the right on immigration to match the populist party.
Difficult Decisions Ahead On Tax
In a nod to the difficulties he has faced in the first year of his premiership, Starmer will again commit to raising living standards and putting money in the pockets of voters, which lawmakers say are essential to win back the party’s traditional electoral base – the working classes.
“No matter how many people tell me it can’t be done, I believe Britain can come together,” Starmer will say in his conference speech, according to advance excerpts.
“We can all see our country faces a choice, a defining choice. Britain stands at a fork in the road. We can choose decency, or we can choose division. Renewal or decline.”
He faces some difficult decisions. After saying that last year’s tax rises – the biggest in more than 30 years – were a one-off in terms of scale, the government might be forced to again raise tens of billions of pounds in taxes to cover a forecast fiscal shortfall.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves used her speech at the conference to warn those in the party who want her to ease her fiscal rules to spend more on the nation’s ailing economy that they were “wrong, dangerously so”, keeping the door open to tax rises.
Starmer will also make clear that some decisions might be difficult for Labour, which has long argued its return to power after 14 years of opposition had been made almost impossible by a Conservative administration that failed to balance the books.
“It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge,” Starmer is expected to say.
“And yet we need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy. Decisions – that will not always be comfortable for our party.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Internet, Mobile Services Disrupted Across Afghanistan, Monitoring Shows
Internet and mobile phone services across Afghanistan went offline on Tuesday, according to residents and monitoring groups, with the Taliban offering no immediate explanation.
In the past, the Taliban have voiced concern about online pornography, and authorities cut fibre-optic links to some provinces in recent weeks, with officials citing morality concerns.
Internet connectivity in Afghanistan was flatlining around the 1% mark, said NetBlocks, an international internet access monitoring organisation.
Connectivity was cut in phases on Monday, with the final stage affecting telephone services, which share infrastructure with the Internet, NetBlocks said in an email to Reuters.
Private channel Tolo News, which warned viewers of a disruption to its services, said authorities had set a one-week deadline for the shutdown of 3G and 4G internet services for cell phones, leaving only the older 2G standard active.
Kabul Hit The Most
Cloudflare Radar, a global internet traffic monitor, said that Kabul, the capital, suffered the sharpest drop in internet connectivity, followed by the western city of Herat and Kandahar in the south.
Strictures ordered by the Taliban leadership, based in Kandahar, have grown increasingly hardline.
This month, authorities stopped women working for the United Nations from entering its offices. Earlier, women were banned from many lines of employment and girls from attending high school.
The Taliban have said they respect women’s rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law.
Women’s rights activist Sanam Kabiri said the Taliban had already closed schools, universities, recreation, and sports facilities for women.
“The Taliban are using every tool at their disposal to suppress the people,” Kabiri, who is based outside of Afghanistan, told journalists in a video posting.
“What else do these ignorant men of another century want from our oppressed people?”
Women faced with curbs on leaving their homes to work had turned to the internet for an economic lifeline that allowed some to work from home.
In recent weeks, however, the Taliban have engaged with U.S. officials, especially regarding American citizens detained in Afghanistan, one of whom they released on Sunday.
(With inputs from Reuters)