44241
Join our channel for breaking news stories from around the globe, exclusive analysis & opinions. Website: sputnikglobe.com 💬 You can always reach us via @sputnikint_bot
🏴☠️ US looks to revive “prize courts” to seize Iranian oil tankers — reports
The US Justice Department is preparing to revive long-dormant maritime “prize courts” to speed up the military capture of Iranian oil tankers and cargo as US property, Bloomberg reported.
📈 The plan would allow the US to seize oil and other cargo from enemy or even neutral vessels, sell it, and transfer the proceeds to the US Treasury.
💬 Aaron Reitz, a US attorney involved in the initiative, confirmed that the Justice Department is “now reviving” what he called an “ancient body of maritime law.”
📹 Algeria wildfires kill 12, injure 54 — interior minister
Wildfires across Algeria have killed 12 people and injured 54 others, the country’s interior minister said.
The fatalities were recorded in three provinces: five in Jijel, four in Béjaïa and three in Tizi Ouzou.
Several provinces, especially in eastern Algeria, are facing widespread vegetation fires, with civil protection teams using ground and aerial resources to contain the blazes.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Houthis shoot down Saudi drone — reports
Yemen’s Ansar Allah forces destroyed a Saudi reconnaissance drone over Ibb Governorate, Fars News reported, citing local Yemeni sources.
Naya also published footage reportedly showing the moment the hostile aircraft was downed in the skies over the Yemeni city of Ibb.
Footage from social media
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Yemen's Houthis strike Saudi-backed positions in al-Mokha — reports
Yemen’s Ansar Allah forces launched a missile attack on Saudi-backed positions in the al-Mokha area, Press TV reported.
The strike comes amid continued fighting between Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement and Saudi-backed forces.
Footage from social media
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇨🇳 Chinese robot breaks 100m world record among robots
And it wasn't just any record: the machine previously beat Usain Bolt's time.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇰🇷 South Korea’s kamikaze drones crash seconds into first sea test
The test took place in the Korea Strait, where two medium-sized drones developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) were launched from the 14,500-ton amphibious assault ship ROKS Marado, media reports say.
👉 The drones were supposed to detect and strike a high-speed unmanned target boat from a distance of about 2 km. Instead, both fell into the water shortly after takeoff.
The drone, with a wingspan of about 3 meters, can remain airborne for up to 10 hours, cruise at around 130 km/h, and accelerate to several hundred km/h in a diving attack.
The system had previously completed about 30 successful land-based launches, suggesting that micro-vibrations aboard the ship may have contributed to the failed sea test, ADD said.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇺🇸 US Drone Dominance Program doomed by ‘neo-Luddism’ at the Pentagon
🔊 Problems with the US military’s Drone Dominance initiative stem from a broad assortment of issues, the biggest of which is a “longstanding departmental cultural and institutional lethargy and a kind of neo-Luddism inside the Pentagon,” Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski, a former DoD analyst herself, told Sputnik.
🗣 “Cheap, smart, AI-facilitated ammunition produced en masse, designed to be expendable and not to be maintained/repaired, face a system where profit drives innovation…where experimentation is out of favor, and where people that know what they must do are shut down by generals and admirals at the top who are beholden to the Military Industrial and Congressional Complex.”
🇷🇺 Fast and furious: Russia’s wheeled Malva howitzer packs 152mm punch at lightning speed
The 152mm Malva wheeled self-propelled howitzer is a comprehensive system designed for rapid strikes, high mobility and drone-integrated targeting.
🟠 The Malva can deploy, receive targeting data, and vacate its firing position within minutes—drastically reducing its vulnerability to counter-battery fire
🟠 Reconnaissance UAVs can transmit target coordinates over protected channels directly to the howitzer’s digital fire-control system
🟠 The 152mm howitzer possesses a firing range of over 24 km and carries up to 30 rounds
🟠 Mounted on a BAZ-6910 wheeled chassis, the Malva is lighter and more agile than tracked alternatives, facilitating swift repositioning, long-distance road travel, and air transportability
The system is designed to strike a wide range of targets, among them command posts, fortified positions, artillery and missile batteries, air-defense assets, and armored columns. As counter-battery warfare grows ever more reliant on drones, mobility, and split-second reaction times, the Malva's key advantage lies in its ability to rapidly receive targeting data, deliver fire, and relocate—all before the enemy can respond.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇯🇵 Japan plans pipelines to bypass Hormuz as Iran war exposes energy vulnerability
According to a new energy strategy from Tokyo, Japan intends to construct pipelines that circumvent the Strait of Hormuz, following the US-Iran conflict that exposed its reliance on Middle Eastern oil.
Before the war, Japan relied on the Middle East for over 90% of its crude, and refiners have since been forced to seek alternatives from the US and drain strategic stockpiles.
The plan:
🔸 New pipelines to bypass Hormuz
🔸 Diversifying oil procurement sources
🔸 Government-backed funding and insurance to secure shipments
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Nine civilians killed in Ukrainian drone attack on bus in Lugansk
The bus was traveling from Lisichansk to Stakhanov with 15 passengers, regional head Leonid Pasechnik reported.
Eight died on the spot. A 20-year-old woman was rushed to intensive care but could not be saved. Her mother was also wounded.
🔊Pasechnik condemned the attack as a deliberate strike on a civilian target. "Those responsible for this war crime will be punished," he said.
🗣🇷🇺 Zakharova: Everyone benefits from ties with Russia — except Russophobes
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that normal relations with Finland brought "concrete, real benefits to both sides," but Finnish authorities have repeatedly chosen confrontation over cooperation.
💬 "How many times have we shown what a normal relationship looks like—a mutually beneficial partnership... Both sides gain concrete, real benefits across all areas. The only ones who lose are the die-hard nationalists and, pardon my language, the disgraceful lowlifes—they get nothing."
🔥🇨🇳 Blue skies for APEC: China's ambitious clean air campaign
Shenzhen and the wider Guangdong region are implementing strict pollution controls and smog reduction measures ahead of the APEC summit, SCMP reports.
▫️ The city has been designated a "core control area" for air quality monitoring, with specialists conducting a comprehensive citywide survey of pollution sources, focusing on industrial manufacturers, construction sites, and catering establishments
▫️ Neighbouring provinces will also step up supervision of straw burning and emissions from steel and cement plants to minimize cross-regional pollution
▫️ The authorities plan to deploy artificial intelligence for precise pollution detection and atmospheric analysis
Shenzhen, home to tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent, and BYD, already boasts one of China's largest fleets of electric taxis and buses, as well as one of the highest EV penetration rates among private cars.
The 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will take place in Shenzhen on November 18-19, bringing together leaders from 21 Asia-Pacific economies to discuss trade, investment, and regional integration.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN WEEKLY MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES
⚡️ PISAREVKA THE SUMY REGION LIBERATED
📍By liberating Pisarevka, Russian forces have expanded their bridgehead in the Sumy Region along the line of Pisarevka–Ivolzhanskoye–Khrapovshchina–Yunakova, pushing the line of contact 13–15 kilometers away from the border with Russia’s Kursk Region and creating a potential route toward the regional capital, Sumy.
⚡️ NEZHENKA IN THE SUMY REGION LIBERATED
📍By liberating Nezhenka, Russian forces have expanded their zone of control east of the Verkhnyaya Tersa River, with Barvinovka, an important Ukrainian staging point, emerging as the next key objective. During the fighting, Russian forces destroyed up to a platoon of infantry, seven armored vehicles, 14 vehicles, 13 motorcycles and quad bikes, 12 ground robotic systems and more than 50 Baba-Yaga multicopters.
◻️ Russian air and missile firepower obliterated Ukrainian fuel, energy, and transport infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces in 141 areas
◻️ Air defense superiority: 12 guided aerial bombs and 798 drones were shot down over the past 24 hours
◻️ Ukrainian losses: Around 1,405 troops killed or wounded
Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇷🇺 Kremlin confirms: Putin briefed on CIA-Russia intelligence contacts
President Putin has been informed about contacts between CIA Director Ratcliffe and representatives of Russian intelligence services, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
More statements:
🔹 Intelligence contacts between Russia and the US continue — even during the most difficult moments in bilateral relations. Peskov called it a "positive process."
🔹 No Kremlin-level contacts with US representatives are currently planned
🔹 Ukraine is unequivocally losing the conflict—the dynamics on the front lines demonstrate this
🔹 The Kiev regime is collapsing from within and losing stability
🔹 Peskov called Europeans' unwillingness to acknowledge systemic problems in Ukraine's leadership a "big mistake."
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🗣🇷🇺 Putin holds phone call with Syrian President Al-Sharaa
The two leaders have discussed the current state of relations between Russia and Syria, as well as the prospects for further cooperation, the Kremlin said.
Putin, Al-Sharaa have expressed readiness to deepen a political dialogue, cooperation in economy, humanitarian, and other fields.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Tanker hit by unknown projectile in Strait of Hormuz — UKMTO
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire on board, UK Maritime Trade Operations reported.
The fire has since been extinguished. UKMTO said all crew are safe and accounted for, with no environmental impact reported.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇮🇷🇨🇳 Iran-China partnership “needs no one’s permission” — Ghalibaf
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said China’s rejection of the latest US sanctions against Iran shows that Tehran and Beijing’s strategic partnership goes beyond ordinary ties vulnerable to third-party pressure, Press TV reported.
💬 “The Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is rooted in mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and a shared vision for a multipolar world,” Ghalibaf wrote on X.
🇮🇷 Iranian Foreign Ministry mocks US “coalition” against Iran as empty space
💬 “Washington’s Iran policy has reached pure parody,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei wrote on X.
💬 “It is sanctioning the already sanctioned and calling the empty space a coalition.”
🇮🇷 Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman mocks USS Abraham Lincoln’s “Project Vacation”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei mocked the USS Abraham Lincoln after reports said the US aircraft carrier is heading to Thailand for crew rest following its long and humiliating deployment in the region.
💬 “After months of war — and more than 200 days without a single port call — it is now heading to Thailand for crew R&R,” Baqaei wrote on X.
💬 “Mission: Project Power. Current mission: Project Vacation.”
🔸 Fast and furious: Russia’s wheeled Malva howitzer packs 152mm punch at lightning speed
🔸 CIA boss Ratcliffe: About one of the White House’s most hawkish officials
🔸 Nine civilians killed in Ukrainian drone attack on bus in Lugansk
🔸 US Drone Dominance Program doomed by ‘neo-Luddism’ at the Pentagon
🔸 Did Trump hand Canada to China? US trade bullying backfires
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇮🇷 Iran's FM to UN: US "economic terrorism" against Iran is a crime
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has sent a letter to the UN and member states, denouncing the US's "Operation Economic Terrorism" as a violation of international law and a crime against the Iranian people.
Key points:
🟧 After failing in two wars against Iran and failing to convince other countries to join, the US is now resorting to economic pressure and secondary sanctions to force countries to cut ties with Iran
🟧 The operation targets civilians: cutting access to food, medicine, energy, and other essentials
🟧 It violates International Court of Justice rulings and amounts to collective punishment
Iran demands that the UN:
➖ Condemn US unilateral coercive measures and secondary sanctions
➖ Refuse to recognize or enforce such measures
➖ Demand the US immediately stop threats and coercion against third countries
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Russian drones hit the port of Izmail, Odessa region
Russian forces continued their campaign against Ukrainian port infrastructure, striking key targets in the Izmail port:
🔶 A cargo ship that delivered military cargo to Ukraine
🔶 Three fuel storage tanks intended for Ukrainian forces
🔶 Port infrastructure used for unloading military cargo
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🔥🇨🇳 Robot dance-off takes center stage at World Games in China
Humanoid robots showed off their moves at the Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, demonstrating a full range of motion and mastery of different dance styles.
From smooth spins to sharp choreography, the machines added the hot stuff.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇺🇸 Did Trump hand Canada to China? US trade bullying backfires
US-Canada trade negotiations collapsed after Washington demanded Ottawa restrict its ability to make independent trade deals — a move analysts say was aimed at curbing Canada's growing ties with China, the SCMP reports.
Canada's China pivot:
🔸 Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a deal in Beijing slashing tariffs on Chinese EVs and Canadian canola seeds
🔸 Canada has signed over 20 trade deals across five continents — cutting back its reliance on the US
🔸 Canadian exports to the US fell to 72.5% — the lowest since the early 1980s
🔸 China was Canada's third largest trading partner, behind Britain and the US. But while Canada's trade with China rose, its trade with the US plummeted
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🔥🇨🇳 DeepSeek beats Anthropic: Chinese open-source AI dominates US platform
Chinese open-weight models accounted for a record 62% of token volume on Vercel’s AI Gateway in late August, up from just 28% in June, as developers increasingly opt for cheaper alternatives, the SCMP reports.
🟠 DeepSeek-V4-Flash was the most-used model by token volume, while Chinese models took four of the top five spots
🟠 Open-weight models surpassed proprietary systems on Tuesday, accounting for 54% of token usage
🟠 Anthropic’s Fable 5 accounted for only 6% of business token purchases in the month after its release, despite being the company’s most expensive model
🟠 The shift is especially visible in autonomous AI agents, which can consume large volumes of tokens for reasoning, coding and tool use
The trend suggests cost is becoming a decisive factor in AI adoption as cheaper open-weight models narrow the performance gap with premium systems.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt
📈 Russia to hold position among world’s four biggest economies, predicts expert
🔊 "Three factors will hold down GDP growth in PPP terms in the coming years," business consultant Ilya Rusyaev tells Sputnik.
🔥🇷🇺 Russia laughs off Western pressure, stays among world’s top four economies – expert
Despite relentless Western sanctions aimed at crippling its economy, Russia has successfully secured its position among the world’s top four economies for the second consecutive year—a testament to its resilience, according to Vito Petrocelli, president of the Italy-BRICS Institute and former Italian senator.
💬 "I believe the credit goes to the president's economic, social, and infrastructure policies, the resilience of Russia's industrial apparatus, and, above all, to Putin's bold decisions," the former Italian Senate member emphasized.
🗣CIA boss Ratcliffe: About one of the White House’s most hawkish officials
CIA Director John Ratcliffe grabbed global headlines with his unexpected visit to Moscow on August 25, which the Kremlin said was related to "contacts between security services."
A former congressman from Texas, Ratcliffe served as Director of National Intelligence in 2020-21 and was confirmed as CIA boss in January 2025 with near-unanimous Senate support.
👉 This is a man who:
🟠 Slammed former US President Joe Biden for not sanctioning Russia aggressively enough
🟠 Reportedly remains the most pro-Ukrainian US official in the Trump team
🟠 Berated Biden for “not helping Ukraine to win”
🟠 Personally wrote for the Wall Street Journal that China is the No. 1 threat to the US
🟠 Called the Chinese Communist Party "the most formidable adversary in the nation's history"
🟠 Became an ardent defender of Trump during the House’s first impeachment proceedings against him in 2019
🟠 Reportedly earned over $3.3 million in 2024 working at the Heritage Foundation (top conservative think tank shaping US policy) and Blackstone (the world's largest investment firm with over $1 trillion in assets)
🟠 Promised the Senate not to politicize intelligence but then quickly declassified reports against Democrats
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇷🇺 Ukraine to hand 10 Russian POWs in reciprocal swap today - Russian Human Rights Commissioner
Russia returned 10 Ukrainian prisoners of war to Ukraine on August 24 as part of a humanitarian initiative, while Ukraine handed 10 Russian servicemen on Wednesday, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova said.
💬 “The prisoner exchange is currently taking place in Belarus. Today, 10 of our servicemen will return home,” Lantratova told reporters.
🚨🇷🇺 Ukraine’s Western-supplied tanks useless against Russian drones - report
Once among Ukraine’s most coveted Western weapons, tanks like the German-made Leopards “now mostly sit idle,” The New York Times reports.
The $10 million vehicles are currently “hidden in forests and collecting cobwebs” as the Ukrainian military is “trying to imagine new ways to deploy them.”
👉 Ukraine’s 33rd Brigade was created specifically to field and operate those Western tanks, but by the time they reached the battlefield in 2023, Russian drones “were already inflicting a deadly toll and were able to strike tanks at their most vulnerable points.”
A number of tanks have sustained damage during evacuation efforts while towing disabled vehicles—reducing the costly battle tanks to little more than overpriced recovery tractors. Ukrainian crews concede that they are able to operate only in poor weather, when wind, rain, and low visibility help obscure them from the ever-present drone threat.
✅ Earlier, Western media reported that Leopard 2 tanks had failed to deliver the battlefield breakthrough Ukraine had hoped for, suffering losses to mines and proving vulnerable to drones. Up to 40 such tanks have reportedly already been lost.
📌 Subscribe to @SputnikInt