Tuesday, September 22, 2026 – UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes. Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks. Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues. G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah. Tanker hit by projectile debris in Strait of Hormuz. Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says Iran fully prepared for war but open to negotiations. Iran rejects U.S. blame for rising fuel prices. China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines. IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister in Tehran. Wall Street Journal: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure. Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drop “genocide,” New York magazine reports. Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case. 8th Circuit reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden endorses GOP Rep. Mike Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race. TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms. George W. Bush and Sen. John Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser. GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly.” British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter's account before massacre. Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say. China expels two top generals, including President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election. UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case. Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial. Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279. Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected meeting between President Recep Erdoğan and Trump in New York. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian presidential polls. Sudan warns UN against engagement with Rapid Support Forces that could confer political legitimacy. Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan. Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward.

This is Drop Site Daily, our free news recap We send it Monday – Friday

Yemen

• UK to refuel Saudi fighter jets during Yemen clashes: Britain will deploy one RAF Voyager aircraft to refuel Saudi fighter jets amid renewed fighting with Yemen’s Ansarallah, according to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

  • The aircraft will operate from a British base in Cyprus and begin air-to-air refuelling in the coming days, allowing Saudi jets to remain airborne longer.

  • “We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defense secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling,” Burnham told reporters on Tuesday. The agreement is “time-limited” and will be kept under review, he added.

• Ansarallah leader warns Turkey, Pakistan against supporting Saudi Arabia: Ansarallah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned Turkey and Pakistan against providing support to Saudi Arabia amid the fighting in Yemen, accusing Riyadh of seeking their involvement in its military campaign.

  • “We advise Turkey and Pakistan not to become involved for political and material gains from the Saudi enemy,” Al-Houthi said in a televised address Monday.

  • In August, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed the Mecca Joint Defense Alliance, expanding security cooperation between the three countries. Pakistan has condemned Ansarallah’s attacks and pledged to uphold its defense commitments to Saudi Arabia, but has not publicly announced direct military involvement.

• Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline after drone attacks: Saudi Arabia restarted its East-West oil pipeline and could resume crude exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later Tuesday, Reuters reported.

  • The pipeline, which had been rerouting around 4 million barrels per day around the Strait of Hormuz, was shut on September 13 following drone attacks. It is currently operating at a low rate, with Saudi Aramco seeking to restore flows to 4 million barrels per day, though full operations could take weeks.

  • Brent crude fell more than $2 a barrel following news of the restart.

• Saudi-led strikes kill 17 in Yemen as fighting continues: Fighting was reported across several parts of Yemen on Tuesday:

  • Mocha: Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed at least six civilians, including two children and a woman, and wounded eight others, according to the Ansarallah-affiliated Saba news agency.

  • Lahj: The Saudi-backed Yemeni government accused Ansarallah of firing two ballistic missiles at a commercial market on Monday, injuring civilians and damaging shops and vehicles.

  • Taiz: Saudi-backed forces said they repelled an Ansarallah attack in Bani Bakari in Jabal Habashi district and shot down a drone in southwestern Taiz.

  • Marib and Al-Jawf: Saudi strikes on Al-Batin in Al-Hazm killed a woman and her child and wounded her husband and two other children, according to Ansarallah. Separately, the Ansarallah-affiliated National Commission for Human Rights said a Saudi strike hit a prison holding prisoners of war in Al-Hazm on Monday, killing nine detainees captured during recent clashes. Marib also recorded the arrival of 3,000 displaced people.

  • At least 154 people have been killed over the past two days in fighting between Ansarallah and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, AFP reported. Ansarallah sources reported 118 deaths from Saudi airstrikes and attacks, while government sources said 36 of their fighters were killed.

• G7 foreign ministers demand Iran end arms support for Ansarallah: Foreign Ministers from the G7 nations—Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States—issued a statement on Monday on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly calling on Iran to end its arming and support of Ansarallah in Yemen.

  • The ministers said they “condemn in the strongest terms the unacceptable continued strikes carried out by the Houthis in Yemen and against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and called on Ansarallah to “immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith.”

Iran

• Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within seven days if U.S. eases pressure, Reuters reports: Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters Tuesday.

  • The official said Tehran sent Washington a proposal through mediators on September 16 and that Iran’s delegation at the UN General Assembly has authority to revive talks. President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, will not meet President Donald Trump in New York.

  • “The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the U.S. to return to diplomacy,” the official added.

  • Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will use the UNGA to defend Iran’s “legitimacy, rights, and interests” following the U.S.-Israeli war, saying the country remains under wartime conditions.

  • U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC Washington is open to meeting Iranian officials at the United Nations, although no talks are currently scheduled.

  • Iran’s armed forces are “100% ready” for war and the IRGC has prepared for a prolonged conflict, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi told IRNA Tuesday, while saying Tehran could also pursue negotiations if required by its national interests. “Negotiation does not mean compromise; negotiation is another scene of war,” Mohebbi said.

• China opposes U.S. sanctions on Iranian airlines: China said Tuesday it opposes U.S. sanctions targeting Iranian airlines, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iranian carriers would be “shut down around the world” through U.S. sanctions.

  • “China consistently opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law or authorization from the UN Security Council,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

  • International flights operated by Iranian airlines will continue as scheduled from the beginning of October, Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said Tuesday, according to ISNA. Iran’s aviation authority said no international flights have been cancelled so far and no orders have been issued to suspend them.

• IRGC says Iran will reverse-engineer captured U.S. underwater drone: Iran will begin reverse-engineering a U.S. autonomous underwater vehicle recently captured by IRGC naval forces, spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said.

  • Mohebbi identified the vessel as a Dive-LD, an unmanned underwater vehicle designed for long-range surveillance and other undersea missions.

• Pezeshkian meets with Pakistani Interior Minister over possible U.S. attacks: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran Monday, his sixth visit since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began in February, and a day after Tehran said it had received intelligence the U.S. was planning new attacks.

  • During the meeting, Pezeshkian said “U.S. actions and pressures have contributed to greater convergence” among Islamic countries, and Naqvi noted that Pakistan believes “relations between Iran and Pakistan have never been at such a high level as they are today.”

  • Separately, Abbas Araghchi met with Qatari representatives on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman saying that Doha was working in coordination with Pakistan, to “facilitate an agreement between Tehran and Washington,” even if it ends up being a short-term agreement.

• WSJ: U.S. proposes $10 billion fund to rebuild Middle East energy infrastructure: The Trump administration proposed contributing $5 billion to a new fund to rebuild energy infrastructure damaged during the seven-month Iran war and develop routes that reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported.

  • Washington is seeking another $5 billion from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan. The proposed $10 billion fund, called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction (Pact), would be managed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation.

Palestine

• Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, five Palestinians were killed—four in new Israeli attacks and one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—and 25 injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,919 killed, with 174,977 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,399 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,863, while 834 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.

• Israeli fire wounds Palestinian woman in Khan Younis: A Palestinian woman was wounded by Israeli forces’ gunfire on Tuesday in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to WAFA.

• Israeli forces, settlers uproot trees and attack Palestinians across the occupied West Bank:

  • Ramallah and Al-Bireh: Israeli authorities issued military orders targeting trees and vegetation across 438.8 dunams (~108.4 acres) in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh and Jenin governorates on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. Israeli bulldozers also uprooted dozens of olive trees in Deir Nidham, while settlers razed land and uprooted trees in Ni’lin.

    • More than 200 settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, attacked Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya, damaging homes and vehicles, while settlers raided Silwad and stole dozens of livestock, WAFA reported.

  • Nablus: Settlers assaulted four Palestinians in Aqraba, leaving them wounded, and fired live ammunition to prevent residents from approaching the area.

  • Hebron: Settlers raided a family home in Yatta and assaulted women and children. Israeli forces later detained a member of the Palestinian family.

• Over 160 Irish players urge football team to boycott Israel matches: More than 160 Irish sports players signed an open letter urging Ireland’s men’s national football team to boycott upcoming matches against Israel on September 27 and October 4, calling on players to “act collectively with conscience,” RTE reported.

  • The Football Association of Ireland said it will not act unilaterally and has instead urged UEFA to suspend Israel from international competition.

  • The Palestinian Football Association recently announced its own return with the Thousand Martyrs Cup, commemorating more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes killed by Israel since October 7, 2023. Read Abubaker Abed’s report on the return of Palestinian football for Drop Site here.

• Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against Israeli soldier in Italy: The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint in Italy against Israeli soldier Yonatan Chalich, accusing him of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide during his deployment in Gaza between October 2023 and August 2024. The foundation said Chalich is currently on holiday in Tuscany and alleged that he may have been involved in the siege and destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital, an attack on the Haj Hamdi Harzallah Mosque, and the destruction of Palestine Square.

Lebanon

• Israeli forces shell southern Lebanon, set homes ablaze in Khiam amid “ceasefire”: Israeli forces carried out heavy machine-gun fire inside the town of Khiam, while setting several homes ablaze, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Tuesday.

  • Israeli artillery also shelled Baraachit and the outskirts of Haddatha in the Bint Jbeil district.

• Lebanon PM calls for continued UN presence in south after UNIFIL: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for a continued international presence under the UN in southern Lebanon after UNIFIL’s mandate ends, during a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York.

  • Salam said a post-UNIFIL presence should maintain monitoring, reporting, and liaison functions, help preserve stability, and support the Lebanese state in extending its authority across the country.

  • Around 329,000 people remain displaced in Lebanon, he said, calling for continued humanitarian funding alongside programs supporting their return and recovery in affected areas.

U.S. News

• Susan Collins caught dead-to-rights in bribery scheme: A ProPublica investigation finds that the Department of Justice’s public corruption unit, just before it was gutted by President Donald Trump, was circling the Maine Republican senator facing Troy Jackson. The evidence suggests that Susan Collins and her campaign solicited illegal contributions from a Hawaii-based weapons maker.

  • The company sent the funds to a super PAC through a shell company—amusingly named Society of Young Scientist and Engineers LLC—in exchange for Collins steering defense contracts to the company. It is illegal for defense contractors to make federal contributions to candidates.

  • Collins appears to have been aware of and directly involved in the scheme. Writes ProPublica: “Seven days after the super PAC cashed the check from [Martin] Kao’s shell company, one of [Scott] Reed’s subordinates emailed a Navatek lobbyist asking for Kao’s phone number: “Senator Collins would like to call Martin to thank him.”

  • The Collins campaign said it was investigated and there was no crime. Read the full report.

• Troy Jackson campaign taken over by D.C. consultants, drops “genocide,” NY Mag reports: New York Magazine reports that national Democratic consultants running Troy Jackson’s Senate campaign have pushed him to soften his messaging on Gaza and avoid questions about Israel. Rebecca Traister reports that out of state advisors and “consultants, some connected to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and national party leaders,” have discouraged open Q&As and sought to minimize opportunities for Jackson to discuss Gaza, despite his previously unequivocal support for a total arms embargo and his description of Israel’s assault as genocide.

  • A campaign document seen by Drop Site instructs Jackson to say, “I think what’s happening in Israel and Palestine is horrific, senseless violence. I think Israel has the right to defend itself, but I do not support the United States sending offensive weapons that enable more killing.” It also encourages him to call for “the release of the hostages,” though Hamas holds no hostages.

  • A person familiar with the campaign tells Drop Site News: “They have told him to stop saying genocide, moved him to blocking offensive only, and his answers are pissing off voters.” Drop Site reviewed campaign materials that instruct him to say, when asked whether it is a genocide, “START with ‘I’ve said what I’ve said.’ Do not sound like you’re walking back the previous position and do not invite an argument over semantics.”

  • At a September town hall, Jackson delivered what Traister describes as “word salad,” speaking of people suffering on “both sides” and said Gaza and Israel both “deserve to be there, be protected,” drawing visible disapproval from some attendees.

  • The Jackson campaign’s recent responses to Drop Site also appear consistent with the shifting message on Gaza. When questioned if an upcoming big ticket fundraiser hosted by an AIPAC-aligned Democrat represented a moderation of his position on Gaza, the campaign avoided a direct response, replying through a spokesperson that “Jackson has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide, and has pledged to reject money from AIPAC.”

  • Jackson’s campaign told New York Magazine his positions on Gaza have not changed. A spokesperson told Drop Site yesterday that Jackson “opposes U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel” and “has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide.” The statement did not repeat his earlier support for a total arms embargo. Read the full NY Mag story here.

• Paramount settles antitrust suit, clearing final hurdle for Warner Bros. Discovery deal: Paramount settled an antitrust lawsuit brought by a dozen state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta, removing the last obstacle to its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

  • The settlement includes the establishment of a board to oversee the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News, financial penalties tied to CEO David Ellison’s commitment to making 30 movies a year, a $1.5 billion investment in American films, a $47.5 million “workforce development fund,” and a requirement to honor existing union agreements.

  • Paramount will not have to sell any of its cable networks for the deal to go through.

  • Four holdout attorneys general reportedly came around to the deal late Sunday after Bonta pledged to hold Paramount’s “feet to the fire” on compliance. “I want to be clear about something right up front: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger,” Bonta said at a news conference on Monday. “We believe further consolidation of markets that are central to American economic life doesn’t serve the American economy.”

  • The Writers Guild of America, which filed a separate lawsuit in July, announced on Monday that it could not afford to continue the legal battle alone and that it had settled its lawsuit as well.

  • The deal follows the FCC’s September 17 decision allowing sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE to hold a non-voting 49.5% stake in the merged company. It also follows threats by Paramount to leave California, potentially relocating thousands of jobs.

• Charges dismissed for five Stanford students in 2024 pro-Palestinian protest case: California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said Monday it will dismiss charges against five former and current Stanford University students who barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office during a 2024 pro-Palestinian demonstration, provided each completes 100 hours of community service and the group pays roughly $52,000 combined in restitution to the university.

  • The case, among the most serious brought against participants in the 2024 campus protest movement, had ended in a mistrial in February after jurors deadlocked, and the state attorney general’s office took over after defense attorneys successfully argued for the removal of Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who had planned to seek a retrial.

• Circuit court reinstates Missouri’s GOP-favored 7-1 congressional map for November election: The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that using Missouri’s older 2022 map, which gives Republicans a 6-2 House advantage, would be unconstitutional and reinstated the newer 7-1 map Republicans passed last year, writing that under the old map “some Missouri voters will have more say than others on who represents them in Congress.”

  • The ruling will take effect in a week, allowing a grace period for an expected Supreme Court appeal. This would mark the third time the high court has weighed in on the dispute; the court earlier halted a lower court order from U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, that also favored the 7-1 map.

• Democratic Rep. Golden endorses GOP Rep. Lawler across party lines in competitive NY race: Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) endorsed New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in an opinion piece for Westchester County’s Journal News on Monday, praising Lawler for his “bipartisanship” and calling him “a true partner” in his work with Golden on a bill altering regulations that affected Maine lobstermen.

  • Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley in a district which Kamala Harris narrowly won in 2024. Both Golden and Lawler belong to the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Golden is not seeking re-election in 2026.

• TV networks suspend White House press pool coverage after Trump bars CNN, MS NOW, Politico: Five major TV networks suspended pooled coverage of President Donald Trump on Monday, leaving his press conference audible only through unusable White House-provided video.

  • The unified pushback followed Trump’s recent expulsion of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House over reporting he called “FAKE NEWS,” which prompted the outlets to file a First Amendment lawsuit earlier this week.

• AOC says she will announce 2028 plans after midterms: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The New York Times on Tuesday she will decide whether to run for president after the midterms, telling the paper she was “crunching…the mental math,” and was taking into consideration her plans to start a family as well as her fears that, as a woman and as Latina, her opponents might challenge her electability.

  • She said she is also weighing a potential Senate challenge to Sen. Chuck Schumer, adding “I don’t think that my decisions would come down to deference,” and noted that a failed presidential bid this cycle would likely end her House career, calling the decision “very all or nothing.”

• Bush and Cornyn snub Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton at Dallas fundraiser: Former President George W. Bush and Sen. John Cornyn hosted a Dallas fundraiser on Monday evening for six Republican Senate nominees in battleground states, including Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio, and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, while pointedly excluding Texas nominee Ken Paxton, who defeated Cornyn in a bitter GOP primary.

  • Paxton has trailed his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, in fundraising, though he has received considerable support from Trump-aligned PACs and Senate Republican groups, who have spent over $80 million on advertising in favor of the Republican attorney general.

• GOP Senate Candidate Mike Rogers says Iran war “needs to end…quickly”: Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers said Monday the war with Iran “needs to end, and end quickly,” calling for a temporary diesel export embargo to lower prices for Michigan families.

  • Rogers follows Iowa’s Ashley Hinson, who earlier that day also publicly distanced herself from the White House over the conflict’s economic toll, calling for a “successful and immediate end” to the war. Hinson has voted against resolutions to end the war in the House four times, and as recently as last week.

📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at Julian@dropsitenews.com

Other International News

• JNIM jihadists kill over 100 Malian soldiers in September, sources say: Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin, a Salafi group in the Maghreb with ties to Al-Qaeda, killed more than 100 soldiers in a week-long attack on the central Malian town of Dioura on September 10, with a security source telling Reuters that the group killed 130 and a diplomatic source giving an estimate of around 120 (JNIM itself claimed it killed 150). One of these security sources also said that the militants took 100 soldiers hostage.

  • In April, JNIM joined forces with the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) to fight Mali’s military government.

  • JNIM separately claimed on Sunday to have struck air defense systems at the Sevare airport, which houses military aircraft and drones supported by Russia’s Africa Corps paramilitary group, and claimed that it had killed 33 more pro-government forces in Sevare and nearby Konna.

• China expels two top generals, including Xi’s closest military ally, over “disloyalty” and corruption: China expelled Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, a chief of staff at CMC, from the Communist Party and military, state media reported, citing corruption and rare charges of “disloyalty” and forming “cliques and factions.”

  • Zhang has long been viewed as President Xi Jinping’s closest military ally.

  • Probes into the pair were first announced in January. The purge has left only two active figures on the formerly seven-member commission, including Xi himself.

• Putin’s party wins supermajority in tightly controlled parliamentary election: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party secured more than 58% of the vote in Russian elections, putting it on track to hold over three-quarters of the seats in the State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house.

  • The parliamentary election was the first since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the first to include residents of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia.

  • Yabloko, Russia’s only registered anti-war party, won no national seats after the Supreme Court removed it from the ballot last month. Russia’s Communist Party, which has been critical of the war, won 40 Duma seats.

• UK charges Rwandan man with genocide-related offenses in first such case: British prosecutors charged Vincent Brown (formerly Bajinya), a 65-year-old Rwandan man, with one count of conduct ancillary to genocide and six counts of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. Brown is the first person to be charged by Crown Prosecutors related to the genocide.

  • Britain’s Counter Terrorism Policing War Crimes Team accused Brown of directing and inciting the killing of Tutsis in Kigali in April 1994. Police said investigations into six other individuals remain ongoing.

  • More than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 100-day genocide in 1994.

• Former Gambian “Jungler” paramilitary chief begins military trial: Sanna Manjang, former head of the Gambian paramilitary unit known as the Junglers, appeared before a military court on Monday to face desertion charges.

  • Manjang fled the country in 2017 following the end of President Yahya Jammeh’s 20-year rule. The Junglers have long been accused by the UN of extrajudicial killings and torture.

  • Manjang was previously charged with four counts of murder, including the 2004 murder of AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, though the charges were dropped in July over an inability to summon witnesses.

• Sri Lanka convicts 14 in 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279: Sri Lanka’s High Court convicted 14 of 24 defendants on Tuesday of murder and terrorism conspiracy for aiding and abetting the suicide bombers who struck three hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday 2019, killing 279 people.

  • Among those convicted was Mohamed Naufar, identified by prosecutors as the ringleader who supported the eight-member suicide squad.

  • An investigation into former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay is ongoing. Sallay is accused of orchestrating the bombings to manufacture a security threat that would bolster political support for the ruling Rajapaksa family, an allegation he and the family deny.

• Turkey, U.S. resume F-16 talks ahead of expected Erdoğan-Trump meeting in New York: Turkey and the United States have resumed talks over F-16 fighter jets, a source told Al-Monitor, ahead of a possible meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.

  • Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called U.S. sanctions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system “an impediment” and said that officials are pursuing “some creative ideas” to resolve the issue. These sanctions have also blocked Turkey’s acquisition of F-35 jets it paid roughly $1.4 billion toward.

  • It remains unclear whether the renewed talks concern Turkey’s 2021 request for 40 new F-16 Block 70 jets, U.S. approval for domestic modernization of its existing fleet of more than 230 F-16s, or both.

• Lula and Bolsonaro neck-and-neck in Brazilian polls: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro remain statistically tied in polls conducted before Brazil’s October elections, with a Quaest poll showing Bolsonaro leading 42% to 41%, and a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showing Lula ahead 46% to 45%; both leads are within the polls’ margins of error.

  • The first round of voting will take place on October 4. If no candidate wins more than 50% of votes in the first round, the two frontrunners advance to a runoff on October 25.

• Sudan warns UN against engagement with RSF that could confer political legitimacy: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem pressed UN officials, including Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, in New York Monday over deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Darfur and Kordofan while warning that public UN engagement with the Rapid Support Forces risks legitimizing the parallel administrations the group has established across areas it controls, Sudan Tribune reported,.

  • UN officials responded that any operational contact with groups on the ground is meant strictly to facilitate neutral aid delivery, not political recognition.

  • Salem separately met with the head of the UN Office for Project Services to request support for health, agriculture and housing reconstruction projects in areas it has deemed secure

• Two North Koreans at Asian Games reportedly seek asylum in Japan: Two members of North Korea’s roughly 180-person delegation to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games have reportedly told Japanese contacts they do not want to return home and would prefer to seek asylum in Japan rather than South Korea, according to South Korea’s Monthly Chosun.

• Spain allows U.S. extradition request for pro-Palestine funder Fergie Chambers to move forward: Spain’s Council of Ministers decided on Tuesday to allow the Trump administration’s extradition request against Fergie Chambers—a pro-Palestine American activist and heir to the Cox Enterprises family fortune—to proceed to the Spanish courts.

  • The U.S. indictment against Chambers is sealed but his lawyer in Spain, Baltasar Garzón, has said the government is claiming money laundering to ultimately fund terrorism, as well as disorderly conduct and conspiracy to riot related to pro-Palestine protests in 2023.

  • Garzón warned Tuesday’s decision by the Council of Ministers “sets a dangerous precedent regarding the defense of the Palestinian cause.”

  • Chambers reportedly received $250 million after cutting ties with his family and has donated over £1 million to humanitarian projects in Gaza.

• British Columbia sues OpenAI over failure to flag Tumbler Ridge shooter’s account before massacre: British Columbia filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court accusing OpenAI of negligence and aiding and abetting the February mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, which killed nine people, alleging the company’s leadership rejected reviewers’ recommendation to refer the shooter’s account to police months before the attack, after automated monitoring flagged a “credible specific risk of harm to others.”

🎥 WATCH The War Brief: Trump Hiding the Real Death Toll; Why the Saudi Military Can’t Fight; and AI’s Role in Killing Minab Children

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