Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

Zionism needs to be big and strong, so that here we can continue the great settlement revolution and kill the idea of a Palestinian state.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

104 settlements and 160 farms — with authority, with permission, together with the army, in the name of the government, in an official and statesmanlike way.

That is what drives our opponents crazy, both in Israel and abroad.

They are not bothered by the settler violence; they use the term in order to blacken this entire magnificent enterprise that is being carried out openly, with authority and permission, in the most official way possible.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

Unfortunately, the Palestinian state — this existential threat — is present. It is here, it is alive and kicking.

Because there is international pressure. Look at Britain and France recognizing it unilaterally — and we do not know what will happen in the U.S. after the current administration.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

You should know that today, being a Palestinian in the West Bank is safer than being an American citizen in New York.

There are more people murdered in New York per 100,000 — that is how you measure it — than Arabs murdered in the West Bank by Jews.

NEW: Iraq says it secured an exemption allowing 40 daily flights to and from Najaf Airport by Iranian airlines, excluding Mahan Air.

The exemption is intended to ease passenger travel and support humanitarian and medical needs.

Iraq’s prime minister thanked the U.S. government for approving the requested exemption.

EU's von der Leyen to North Macedonia:

Clearly, you belong to us. There is one key step you need to take so that you can move forward and open the fundamentals cluster.

I know the sensitivities around it, but I also want to be very clear about what Europe stands for.

EU's von der Leyen:

We welcome North Macedonia with its identity and its language.

We believe that Macedonian culture and language can only make our union richer, because our motto is diversity in unity, and we take it very seriously.

America’s partners are building a Plan B.

Not necessarily to replace Washington.

To make sure they can still act if Washington doesn’t show up.

NEW: Saudi Arabia is preparing a new offensive against Yemen’s Houthis, potentially within weeks, aimed mainly at retaking the Bab el-Mandeb strait and restoring Red Sea shipping.

More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could be mobilized, with Saudi air support. Riyadh is considering either a limited coastal assault or a broader multi-front offensive across Yemen.

The U.S. is providing intelligence and military advisers but is not expected to join combat directly.

Pakistan has deployed 30,000–40,000 troops inside Saudi Arabia to help defend against Houthi missile and drone attacks.

Riyadh believes peace talks cannot resume while the Houthis control Bab el-Mandeb.

Source: Reuters

The U.S. carried out a non-nuclear underground chemical explosive experiment at the Nevada National Security Site to improve detection of low-yield nuclear blasts.

The test focused on detecting “decoupled” explosions, which can be harder to identify through seismic monitoring. Washington has accused China of conducting such a secret test in 2020, a claim Beijing denies.

Data from the experiment will be used to improve scientific models and nuclear explosion detection algorithms.

Source: Reuters

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to visit Türkiye later this month for talks with President Erdogan, in what would be the first dedicated bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister.

The two are expected to discuss free-trade negotiations launched in July, as well as possible cooperation in energy, nuclear power and defense.

The visit comes as Carney seeks to reduce Canada’s reliance on U.S. trade and double non-U.S. trade over the next decade. Canada and Türkiye currently have relatively modest bilateral trade, worth C$4.34 billion in 2025.

Source: Reuters

Poland’s Defense Ministry is drafting a law to prepare the state for a “pre-war” or full defense-readiness phase before martial law is formally declared.

The law would allow earlier deployment of Polish and allied troops, align defense plans with NATO systems and prepare infrastructure for heightened readiness.

The ministry says it is meant to address hybrid threats, cyberattacks and disinformation. No date has been set for the bill to reach parliament.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the EU should demand more reforms from aspiring members but argued that Ukraine was being given unrealistic expectations about joining the bloc.

“What Ukraine is being promised is a lie,” Rama said, adding that Kyiv would never be admitted through the EU’s regular accession process under the current criteria.

He said a more realistic approach would be to bring Ukraine “to the table now” and grant it full membership through a performance-based process.

Source: Die Welt

Trump on getting impeached:

I'm getting good at it. It's a fake impeachment. We could have done that with Sleepy Joe. I could have done that with Hillary Clinton. I had the chance to do it if I wanted.

Trump on Türkiye:

I love Türkiye. I will always make President Erdogan happy.

Trump:

Pretend I'm running. We want to pretend I'm running.

Trump:

I never get tired. If I got tired, it would be a big story, I can tell you that.

Trump on diesel:

We're not going to be doing the export ban.

Q: On Brazil's elections, are you going to support Bolsonaro?

Trump: We're looking at the whole thing. We're watching that election very closely.

The FlyDubai co-pilot who allegedly stabbed the captain of Flight 1073 had previously been banned from flying by Oman over concerns about radical ideological views.

Despite the ban, FlyDubai later hired him to fly routes including Dubai–Tel Aviv.

Source: WSJ