World Echo

Israel said two of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday while Lebanese ​authorities said Israeli retaliatory attacks killed at least one person, a ‌flare-up in violence that coincided with the latest round of talks between the two countries. The Rome talks, which began on Tuesday and are expected to continue through Thursday, come after ​the two countries agreed in June to a US-brokered security arrangement ​intended to ease hostilities along the border. Despite the ceasefire, Israel ⁠declared a buffer zone in southern Lebanon where its troops continue to operate ​to eliminate what it says is the threat of the Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, on ​its border. The two soldiers were killed and four others wounded by an explosion in a building they had entered as part of a security sweep, according to Israel's Army Radio ​on Thursday. Citing a security source, Army Radio said that it was still ​unclear when the explosive device had been planted in the bui...

FBI Director Kash Patel says he has forged new law enforcement partnerships with China and Russia, two longtime United States rivals, over the past year in hopes of gaining allies in combating transnational crime including fentanyl, cyber fraud and child sexual exploitation. The partnerships have involved personnel exchanges in which Chinese law enforcement officials have visited the US and FBI agents have traveled to China to work on cases together and share intelligence. Separately, FBI and Chinese officers have carried out joint raids and arrests under the arrangement. Patel returned from a trip to Beijing in late July, and a similar trip to Russia has been tentatively planned for October, according to FBI officials. In exclusive interviews with Reuters, Patel described the FBI's initiatives with what he called "non-traditional partners...

Russia fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the surrounding region on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and destroying warehouses and logistics centres of major retailers, Ukrainian officials said. Multiple explosions ripped through the area during the night, and fires lit up the dark skies over the Ukrainian capital, which has come under missile attack every three to four days in recent weeks as Russia has escalated its air war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Ukraine's lack of missile defences had once again cost lives and urged Ukraine's foreign allies to replenish its supplies of interceptors. As of now, 44 people have been reported injured in the massive Russian strike on Kyiv and the Kyiv region. Another 17 people, tragically, were killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones. It was a heavy strike – 24 ballistic missiles, 4 Zircon/Oniks missiles, and… pic.twitter.com/4LoHXXkt8R — Vo...

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, warned on Wednesday that Pyongyang would adopt "additional military options" in response to what she called Japan's transformation into a military power, after Tokyo test-fired a United States-made Tomahawk cruise missile. In a statement carried by state media KCNA, Kim accused Japan of moving beyond a defensive posture and turning its armed forces into a force capable of pre-emptive attacks and overseas military operations. She cited Japan's recent Tomahawk test from the Aegis destroyer Chokai in the Pacific Ocean, as well as test-firings of other missiles and its participation in a US-led joint military drill in the Philippines in May. Kim said that North Korea would respond in ways that made Japan feel that its security has been exposed t...

When tens of thousands of would-be migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta last week, Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni promptly said she would suspend a free-movement accord with Spain, even though Ceuta is excluded from the pact. And when a distressed Moroccan businessman who feared repatriation despite having lived in Italy for 36 years died after being stopped by police two weeks ago in Bologna, with viral footage showing two officers sitting on him to restrain him, the government jumped to the law enforcers' defence. Right-wing media depicted the man as another disorderly migrant causing trouble, highlighting drug convictions in his youth, while opposition politicians accused the government of racism and condoning police brutality. What few did, in public at least, was ask who Abderrahim Fakir really was, and what might have caused his distress – something that sociologists and refugee agencies say reduces an immigra...

Iran is betting it can outlast Washington by turning the Middle East's trade routes, shipping lanes and energy infrastructure into pressure points that steadily raise the cost of confrontation, according to Gulf officials and analysts. Rather than seeking a ​decisive military victory, Tehran is pursuing a strategy of calibrated escalation aimed at widening the conflict without triggering full-scale war. The goal, they say, is to convince the United States and its allies that ‌containing the crisis is more costly than accommodating Iran's demands over the Strait of Hormuz. The message from Tehran is that unless Washington accepts a new status quo that gives Iran a greater role in Hormuz, the conflict could spread beyond the Gulf. By putting multiple maritime chokepoints and energy assets at risk, Iran believes it can strengthen its hand in any future negotiations. "Iran, from the beginning, has tried to out-escalate the United States by stretching ou...