Iran and U.S. renew Hormuz attacks; Trump escalates Canada trade war; 13 killed in Sudan drone strike

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 – Iran launches massive missile barrage against U.S. targets. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sets conditions for ending U.S. war, announces new restricted maritime zone. U.S. Central Command claims five Iranian oil tankers destroyed; Iran warns tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports. UKMTO: Several ships disabled in attacks across Gulf. U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1982. An additional 26 U.S. troops wounded. Israeli attacks wound Palestinians across Gaza. Four Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Tuesday, including a child. Israeli forces carry out demolitions and arrests as settlers seize land across occupied West Bank. Report: Israeli guards celebrated as Palestinian prisoner was tortured and killed. Israel continues to block Red Cross access to Palestinian prisoners. Israel to close UK consulate in Jerusalem, ban 12 British MPs and citizens over settlement sanctions. EU backs national trade restrictions on illegal Israeli settlements. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says U.S. will “obviously not” follow UK in sanctioning illegal Israeli settlements. Israel blocks police recruits it vetted from leaving Gaza for training. Ansarallah reports 32 Saudi airstrikes across Yemen. Israeli attacks continue to kill in southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire.” Results from Tuesday’s primaries. U.S. to ban imports of certain Canadian goods starting September 29. Border Patrol runs secret “predictive policing” units that flag Americans' financial activity for traffic stops. American Bar Association eliminates law school diversity requirement under pressure from President Donald Trump. Appeals court upholds block on IRS sharing taxpayer addresses with ICE. DOJ asks Supreme Court to revive expanded voter citizenship database. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff earned $107 million from crypto venture in 2025, disclosure shows. Dueling court orders leave Missouri congressional map in chaos ahead of midterms. In second attack in two days, U.S. forces raid vessel in Eastern Pacific and detain crew. Thirteen killed in North Kordofan drone strike. Cluster munitions killed or injured over 1,000 people in 2025, near-record annual toll. At least 14 killed in weapons depot explosion in Syria's Idlib province. Serbian president dissolves parliament and calls snap election. Rubio meets new Colombian president, seeks to rebuild security ties. Gambian president promises power fix by October amid violent blackout protests. Iran Iran launches massive missile barrage against U.S. targets: Iran launched what IRGC-linked outlets described as its largest missile barrage since the 40-day war, targeting U.S. military positions in Jordan on Tuesday, including Al-Azraq air base. Jordan’s military claimed its air defenses intercepted 18 of 20 ballistic missiles launched from Iran on Wednesday, with the other two falling in unpopulated areas. No impacts or casualties have been independently confirmed yet. Separately, Iran’s IRGC said it struck two U.S. Navy destroyers, the USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) and USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53), with ballistic missiles, claiming the vessels sustained “significant damage.” The IRGC said the attack was retaliation for U.S. attacks on and harassment of Iranian oil tankers. U.S. Central Command, in a social media post, denied Iran’s claims, writing: “No U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed.” It also said it struck eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and 10 additional ships attempting to enter what Iran calls the prohibited and unsafe zone around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s IRGC sets conditions for ending U.S. war, announces new restricted maritime zone: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that the war with the United States could end if Washington halts its threats against Iran and meets a series of conditions, including refraining from interference in the country’s nuclear and missile programs. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said the conditions also include a complete end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, an end to the blockade on Yemen and the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Separately, Mohebbi announced a new “restricted zone” extending beyond the Strait of Hormuz, covering parts of the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, with its exact coordinates to be announced later. He warned that ships entering without coordination would face “punitive measures,” including being denied navigation-related services. CENTCOM claims five Iranian oil tankers destroyed; Iran warns tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports: U.S. Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday, claiming the IRGC had earlier twice targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles over the past two days. CENTCOM said the warship evaded the attacks and no U.S. personnel were harmed. TankerTrackers identified the vessels as the Charminar, Kaviz, Horizon 1, Riesco and Derya. The Derya, a National Iranian Tanker Company supertanker, was reportedly empty. Together, the five vessels have transported 45 million barrels of Iranian crude and refined products since May 2019, according to the maritime tracker. The strikes bring the number of Iranian tankers the U.S. says it has hit since Saturday to eight. “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, which host U.S. forces, should immediately abandon their vessels “whether at anchorage or at dockside, as they will be targeted,” noting the two Gulf states’ complicity in the U.S. attacks on Iran. UKMTO: Several ships disabled in attacks across Gulf: Several merchant vessels were disabled in attacks across key Gulf shipping routes, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said on Wednesday, as it reported separate incidents off the UAE and Iraq. “Reports indicate the vessels were subject to disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity” in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, UKMTO said, adding that it could not confirm any casualties. One cargo ship was hit by a projectile about 44 kilometers northwest of Port Rashid in the UAE and was listing at anchor after taking on water. Separately, a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile about 52 kilometers southeast of al-Faw, Iraq. Its crew was reported safe. U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to lowest level since 1982: U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventories fell by another 1.2 million barrels last week to 285.4 million, their lowest level since November 1982, Energy Department data showed. The U.S. has now withdrawn 129.9 million barrels since March, reducing the emergency stockpile by roughly 31% in six months. The drawdown is part of an authorized exchange of up to 172 million barrels following disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Only another 2.6 million barrels are currently contracted for delivery to oil companies. That leaves 42.1 million under the authorized ceiling unreleased, including approximately 39.5 million that has not been allocated and would require the Energy Department to award additional exchange contracts to refiners or other oil companies. The price of Brent crude oil crossed $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July. Diesel prices hit an all-time high Friday and have continued to climb, with the average price for a gallon reaching $5.94 overnight, according to AP. Additional 26 U.S. troops wounded: Defense Casualty Analysis System recorded 26 additional wounded U.S. troops, bringing the total number of American military casualties since the start of the war against Iran to 838—18 killed, including 7 in accidents, and 820 wounded. Palestine Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed—two in new attacks and one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks—-and 25 were injured in attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Four bodies were recovered from beneath the rubble. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,669 killed, with 174,652 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,358 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,541, while 831 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. Israeli attacks wound Palestinians across Gaza: A woman was wounded by Israeli fire in Halawa camp in northern Gaza, WAFA reported. Two Palestinians were critically wounded when an Israeli drone struck a motorcycle on Al-Rashid Street, south of Gaza City. Four Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Tuesday, including child: Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a child and a 69-year-old man, and wounded others across Gaza on Tuesday. A 10-year-old was shot in the chest when Israeli forces opened fire toward displaced families’ tents in Al-Mawasi west of Khan Younis. A 69-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Al-Maslakh, south of Khan Younis. A man was killed and 12 others wounded when an Israeli drone struck a tent north of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Freed Palestinian prisoner Ramzi Abu Rida died from wounds sustained in an Israeli drone strike last Friday in Al-Mawasi. Israeli forces also issued at least five displacement orders across Gaza on Tuesday morning, in Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza, Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, and near Al-Shifa Hospital. Umm Ahmad Habboush, a displaced mother of eight, told Drop Site’s Abdel Qader Sabbah she was inside her tent with her children when they suddenly learned their entire block near Al-Shifa had been ordered to evacuate. “The children kept crying, ‘Mama, what about our clothes? Our things?’ I told them, ‘We don’t want them. We just need to escape with our lives.’” Israeli forces subsequently struck a residential building near Al-Shifa Medical Complex with three missiles, in an area crowded with displaced families. Watch the dispatch from Sabbah here. Israeli forces carry out demolitions and arrests as settlers seize land across occupied West Bank: Jenin: Israeli forces demolished 12 greenhouses, eight commercial storage facilities, 10 agricultural rooms and the walls of two farms near the entrance to Arraneh, northeast of Jenin, on Wednesday, WAFA reported. The head of the village council said the demolitions caused losses estimated at millions of shekels and that owners of six additional greenhouses were verbally ordered to demolish them by Thursday. Separately, Israeli forces detained seven Palestinians, including two children, during raids across the governorate. Bethlehem: Israeli settlers erected a tent on Palestinian land near the western entrance to Al-Rashaydeh village, east of Bethlehem, raising concerns that a new settlement outpost could be established there. Settlers have recently intensified attacks in the nearby Kisan area, including attacks on homes and shepherds. Report: Israeli guards celebrated as Palestinian prisoner was tortured and killed: Israeli prison guards celebrated in real time as Palestinian prisoner Thaer Abu Asab was beaten severely and killed, according to WhatsApp messages and an indictment detailed by Haaretz. “You’re going to be proud of me, of my shift. After what happened, the count took two hours and 23 minutes. Draw your own conclusions,” one female guard wrote to her partner, who was also a guard. “They’re doing CPR in the clinic right now, baby! God willing, that son of a thousand whores will die.” Another guard texted a friend: “What an insane count. There’s never been anything like it. We poured cheese on them, cracked some eggs [the Hebrew word for eggs is also slang for testicles]. So much blood in the wings.” Abu Asab was pronounced dead that evening. The indictment says the severe beating injured his heart and caused his death. Nearly three years after Abu Asab was killed, prosecutors filed a rare indictment against 12 Israel Prison Service guards. They are accused of beating him and eight other Palestinian prisoners in Cell 6 of Wing 24 at Ketziot Prison as retaliation for reports that Druze soldiers had been killed in the war. Those reports turned out to be nothing more than a rumor, Haaretz reported. Such violence was routine, known to senior commanders, and concealed through a code of silence, the report said. Israel continues to block Red Cross access to Palestinian prisoners: The International Committee of the Red Cross said visits to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention have not resumed and none are currently scheduled. Israel has blocked Red Cross access in violation of International law for nearly three years, despite its Supreme Court ruling the blanket ban unlawful in June. The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners said any eventual resumption, which would be the first since October 7, 2023, must reach every prisoner and detention site, including military camps and undisclosed facilities. It also called for confidential interviews, documentation of torture, starvation, medical neglect and isolation, disclosure of the fate forcibly disappeared detainees, and the restoration of family visits. Israel to close UK consulate in Jerusalem, ban 12 British MPs and citizens over settlement sanctions: Israel announced it will close the UK consulate in Jerusalem within 30 days and ban 12 British MPs and citizens from entering the country in retaliation for Britain’s decision to impose sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused the Labour government of being “hostile” toward Israel and said 12 British lawmakers and citizens, including Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, and all five sitting Green Party MPs, would be barred over what he called “antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband defended the sanctions on Wednesday, saying Britain could not remain “silent or passive” as Israeli settlements were “destroying” the prospect of a two-state solution. EU backs national trade restrictions on illegal Israeli settlements: The European Union reiterated on Wednesday that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, after eight EU member states joined other countries in announcing plans to impose national restrictions on trade with settlements, Anadolu Agency reported. “The EU’s longstanding position is clear: settlements are illegal under international law. They constitute an obstacle to peace and to the viability of the two-state solution,” EU Commission foreign affairs spokesman said, adding that goods originating from settlements established in territories occupied since June 1967 are not eligible for preferential tariff treatment. France, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden joined the UK, Iceland, Norway, and Canada in announcing plans for national trade restrictions. Rubio says U.S. will “obviously not” follow UK in sanctioning illegal Israeli settlements: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the United States will “obviously not do what the UK did” regarding the newly announced British trade sanctions and import bans on illegal Israeli settlements. He said the U.S. wants to avoid any “uptick in violence, or an uptick in conflict or tensions in the West Bank at a very tenuous time for the region,” without noting Israeli settlers have been responsible for the violence. The Trump administration removed all sanctions on violent settlers on the first day of the administration in January 2025. Israel blocks police recruits it vetted from leaving Gaza for training: Around 16,500 Palestinians who have successfully undergone Israeli security vetting to serve on a new police force in Gaza overseen by the Board of Peace are being prevented by Israel from leaving the enclave to begin training in Egypt, according to the Times of Israel citing two officials at the International Gaza Support Center, a U.S.-led base in southern Israel that monitors the “ceasefire” in Gaza (previously known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center). A total of 283,000 applications have been submitted since February to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) for the new police force, according to the Times. Israel has blocked the vetted applicants, who constitute around 5% of the total, despite their applications being vetted by Israel and the NCAG. Yemen Ansarallah reports 32 Saudi airstrikes across Yemen: Yemen’s Ansarallah said on Wednesday that Saudi warplanes carried out 32 airstrikes across Yemen in recent hours. Ansarallah-run Al Masirah TV said the strikes targeted areas across the Marib, Al-Jawf, Taiz, and Hodeidah governorates. Death toll from prison airstrike rises to 23: Four bodies were recovered on Wednesday from an Ansarallah-run prison hit by an airstrike on Monday in the city of Hazm in the northern Jawf governorate, raising the death toll from that attack to 23 people. In a statement Wednesday, Anarsallah’s military spokesman claimed that the prison strike was conducted by an F15-SA Saudi aircraft although he did not provide evidence to back up the claim. Lebanon Israeli attacks continue to kill in southern Lebanon despite “ceasefire”: Nabatieh: One person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle on the Marj Harouf-Zebdine road on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Tyre: Israeli warplanes struck the Zibqin Valley in the Tyre district. Separately, Lebanese Red Cross teams, assisted by the Lebanese army, recovered the remains of a person killed earlier in the area between Mansouri and Hanniyeh. Bint Jbeil: Israeli warplanes struck the Salouqi Valley near the town of Shaqra in the Bint Jbeil district. U.S. News Results from Tuesday’s primaries: Rep. Chris Pappas defeated his progressive challenger Karishma Manzur in New Hampshire’s Democratic Senate Primary, setting up a general election contest against former Sen. John Sununu that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate. The moderate Pappas was able to defeat Manzur, a DSA member, with endorsements from Kamala Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and with his considerable fundraising advantage, and despite a late collapse in the polls. If he can defeat Sununu, who he narrowly trails in general election polls, Pappas will become the first openly gay male U.S. senator. New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte will face Democrat Cinde Warmington in November, as she seeks a second term. Both Ayotte, a former Senator whose gubernatorial victory in 2025 marked a political comeback after a defeat in 2016, and Warmington, who served on the state’s Executive Council from 2021 to 2025 and lost in the 2024 gubernatorial primary, ran effectively unopposed. Automotive executive Anthony DiLorenzo, backed by President Donald Trump, won the Republican primary for New Hampshire’s open First Congressional District Tuesday, defeating steel executive Hollie Noveletsky, according to the Associated Press. DiLorenzo was attacked by the right wing of his party during the primary over his position that immigrants without permanent legal status could become citizens if they pay taxes and have no felony convictions. The seat, vacated by Democrat Chris Pappas to run for Senate, is rated “Likely Democratic” by the Cook Political Report. Trump administration to ban imports of certain Canadian goods starting September 29: President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday night that the U.S. would ban imports of some Canadian alcohol, motorcycles, molasses, and dairy products, effective September 29, a major escalation in his ongoing trade war with Canada. The dairy products include whey, and the alcohol products include several types of beer, wine, bourbon, and vodka. A senior administration official said the bans would affect “single-digit billions” of dollars in Canadian imports. The move follows the collapse of a trade deal last month that triggered 50% U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods and prompted Canadian retaliatory tariffs on products including steel, aluminum, dairy, and electronics. Those Canadian tariffs took effect on Tuesday. Border Patrol runs secret “predictive policing” units that flag Americans’ financial activity for traffic stops: Border Patrol operates secretive Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT) that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data before feeding intelligence to local police, who then pull over drivers under unrelated pretexts, 404 Media found in a Tuesday investigation, pointing particularly to units in Washington’s Spokane Sector and Texas’s Laredo Sector. In one case, a Border Patrol analyst flagged the financial data of Kyle William Olson, claiming it “suggested…illicit narcotics activity” and passed the information to Montana Highway Patrol, which stopped Olson under the pretext of an obstructed license plate before charging him with DUI and drug possession. A CBP spokesperson declined to detail what financial data is monitored or whether warrants are obtained, citing operational security. Critics have called the setup unconstitutional and argued that it treats all Americans as “potential suspects.” ABA eliminates law school diversity requirement under Trump pressure: The American Bar Association’s accreditation council voted 10-6 Tuesday to immediately strike down a decades-old requirement that law schools demonstrate a commitment to diversity through “concrete action,” a change that follows a suspension of the standard in February 2025 and comes as the Trump administration wages its broader campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The body justified its decision by pointing to the adverse effects that disagreement with the administration’s policy could have on its role as an accreditor. President Donald Trump specifically targeted the ABA’s diversity requirement as a violation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling ending race-conscious admissions in a 2025 executive order, accusing accreditors of having “abused their enormous authority.” Appeals court upholds block on IRS sharing taxpayer addresses with ICE: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an injunction Tuesday blocking an IRS policy that had allowed the agency to share roughly 47,000 taxpayer addresses with ICE, ruling the practice violated post-Watergate federal privacy law. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote that the procedure violated the law in numerous ways, particularly by “automating the review of millions of records without any individual review or any other means of ensuring compliance with the legal prerequisites.” The IRS had begun processing ICE requests for up to 1.28 million people’s addresses in July 2025 under an agreement that allowed ICE to obtain information using any five- or nine-digit number, even one that wasn’t an actual ZIP code. DOJ asks Supreme Court to revive expanded voter citizenship database: The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to allow the Trump administration to resume expanding its Systematic Alien Verification Entitlements (SAVE) database, which it says will help states verify the citizenship of voters, and which seeks to incorporate Social Security and immigration records. The database has prompted several legal challenges, which argue that it could put Americans’ sensitive data at risk and lead to mistaken cancellations of citizens’ voter registrations. The request follows a June ruling from U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who found administration officials “haphazardly combined and repurposed the private information of millions of Americans, including citizenship data that they knew to be unreliable,” and a subsequent 2-1 D.C. Circuit ruling upholding her block. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the database expansion would still help election officials make “individualized decisions” about noncitizen registrations. The move comes as the U.S. has entered its 90-day “quiet period,” when federal law prohibits states from making “systematic” voter roll purges before the midterms. Trump envoy Witkoff earned $107 million from crypto venture in 2025, disclosure shows: Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Middle East negotiations, reported earning $107 million in 2025 from the holding company through which he held his stake in World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture he co-founded with Trump, according to a financial disclosure report cited by Bloomberg. The disclosure does not specify how much of that income came directly from World Liberty Financial, which offers stablecoins including USD1 and the WLFI token, though critics have flagged conflicts of interest, noting Abu Dhabi’s MGX used the company’s stablecoins to fund a $2 billion investment in Binance. Trump separately reported earning more than $594 million from World Liberty in 2025, which has substantial and controversial ties to the UAE’s royal family. An entity related to the company recently received preliminary approval for a national trust bank charter from federal regulators. Dueling court orders leave Missouri congressional map in chaos ahead of midterms: Missouri’s congressional districts remained uncertain Tuesday after a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from using its old district lines just moments after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Missouri Supreme Court ruling ordering those same old districts be used, according to the Associated Press. U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order requiring Missouri to use the new Trump-backed map, writing that switching districts between primary and general elections “would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections.” The confusion centers on redrawn boundaries targeting Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district, part of a broader Republican mid-decade redistricting push across eight states that could net the GOP up to 16 additional House seats nationally. In second attack in two days, U.S. forces raid vessel in Eastern Pacific and detain crew: For the second time in two days, U.S. forces raided a vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Tuesday, detaining everyone on board, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which posted a video of the attack and saying the vessel was “supporting illicit at-sea drug trafficking” without providing evidence. “After clearing the vessel and disembarking the crew, U.S. forces sank it,” SOUTHCOM said. 📥 Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email DC Correspondent Julian Andreone at [email protected] Other International News Thirteen killed in North Kordofan drone strike: At least 13 people were killed and 22 wounded in an RSF drone attack on Umm Rawaba in Sudan’s North Kordofan state on Tuesday, the Sudan Doctors Network reported. The medical group said the drones struck civilian facilities and critical infrastructure across the city on Tuesday afternoon, describing the attack as a “new massacre.” Cluster munitions killed or injured over 1,000 people in 2025, near-record annual toll: Cluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people in 2025, one of the highest annual tolls on record, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition’s annual report. Most of those killed by the munitions were civilians, and at least 34 killed were children. Ukraine recorded the highest number of casualties for the fourth consecutive year, accounting for 87% of the global total, with other deaths and injuries recorded in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Russia, and Syria. At least 14 killed in weapons depot explosion in Syria’s Idlib province: An explosion at a temporary weapons and war remnants depot near Sarmada in Syria’s Idlib province killed at least 14 people and injured 11 Wednesday, according to Syrian state television, with Syria’s defense ministry saying some of its personnel were among the injured. The blast in Burj Elnumra village, in a depot storing weapons and munitions left over from the 2011-2024 Syrian civil war, sparked a fire and secondary explosions that hampered firefighting efforts. Authorities have not clarified the cause, though such incidents remain common in the country, with a similar incident in the Idlib village of Binnish killing five on September 1. Serbian president dissolves parliament and calls snap election: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dissolved parliament and scheduled an election for October 25, a year ahead of schedule, after his Serbian Progressive Party nominated him for prime minister. Vucic has held the office of president or prime minister since 2014 and said an early vote was necessary because continued political conflict could “threaten the survival of democracy.” The election follows nearly two years of anti-corruption protests sparked by the November 2024 collapse of a railway-station awning in Novi Sad that killed 16 people. Rubio meets new Colombian president, seeks to rebuild security ties: Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella in Barranquilla Tuesday, expressing hope for a rebound in U.S.-Colombia security cooperation under the newly inaugurated right-wing administration. De La Espriella said Colombia wants to “newly consolidate itself as the principal hemispheric partner for the United States on security” and proposed a new “Plan Homeland” cooperation program (a name which echoes the controversial Plan Colombia, which began in the late 1990s). Colombia’s new president pledged to fumigate coca plantations, destroy cocaine labs, and pursue drug bosses. Rubio attributed years of strained relations to De La Espriella’s leftist predecessor, Gustavo Petro, saying ties were “impeded over the last three or four years by political leadership here, but that has now changed.” Gambian president promises power fix by October amid violent blackout protests: Gambian President Adama Barrow declared the country’s prolonged electricity outages a “national security issue” and pledged to install a 24-megawatt generation machine by the end of October, with protesters burning tires and building barricades as they demanded his resignation in the capital, Banjul, and nearby cities Monday and Tuesday. Police used tear gas to disperse crowds near Barrow’s residence and the headquarters of national electricity provider NAWEC, whose managing director attributed the rolling blackouts, which have lasted up to 48 hours in some areas during the hot season, to climate change and the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, as well as an unforeseen demand surge amid high temperatures. The crisis unfolds just months before the December presidential election, in which he is seeking a third term. 🛒 SHOP for your Drop News/Not Bombs Hoodie 💬 JOIN our Whatsapp Broadcast Channel for the latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly ⚠️ TOO MANY EMAILS? You can go to your account settings to unsubscribe from the Drop Site Daily newsletter—while still getting the rest of our reporting You have to wonder how many people have been killed directly and indirectly due to the creation of Israel? The actions of a populace that drove the world to create Israel are now the actions of those who were originally targeted. What a rotten world we are leaving to our progeny.