Foreign adversaries are targeting the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Tehran’s intelligence boss has reportedly alleged
Iran’s intelligence chief has accused the US and Israel of plotting to kill Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an effort to destabilize the country, the ISNA news agency has reported.
According to the outlet, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib said on Saturday that “the enemy seeks to target the supreme leader, sometimes with assassination attempts, sometimes with hostile attacks,” referring to the US and Israel.
It was unclear whether the minister was alluding to a specific plot. Public claims of threats to Khamenei’s life had been rare before the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June. Israeli strikes killed several senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists before a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the attacks to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a campaign backed by Washington, which joined Israeli raids on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22. Tehran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, condemned the strikes as unprovoked.
Khatib reportedly warned that “those who act in this direction, knowingly or unknowingly, are the infiltrating agents of the enemy.”
He added that Israel was grappling with “an epidemic of infiltration and espionage for Iran within its own institutions,” citing the recent arrest of an Israeli Air Force officer accused of spying for Tehran. Khatib reportedly claimed that Iran had obtained secret nuclear information and other highly sensitive security documents.
According to Khatib, the intelligence breach, coupled with what he described as Iran’s firm posture during the 12-day war, pointed to shifting regional power dynamics.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu brushed off reports that US President Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader during the war, while adding that such a strike would “end the conflict.”
Trump had claimed Khamenei was a “very easy target” and that Washington would not “take him out, at least not for now,” later declaring on Truth Social that he had spared the Iranian leader from “A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH.”
Khamenei, 86, has been Iran’s supreme leader since 1989 and has final authority over all state affairs.
China has warned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi against military intervention in the Taiwan dispute
Japan has rebuked China for citing a UN Charter clause that permits action against former Axis powers without Security Council approval, insisting the provision is outdated and irrelevant.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s new government has been embroiled in an escalating diplomatic tit-for-tat with Beijing, beginning with remarks she made earlier this month supporting the self-governing administration on Taiwan. The Chinese side interpreted her comments that a cross-strait conflict would be a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan as signaling potential Japanese armed involvement and evidence of resurgent militarism.
Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo published an excerpt from the UN Charter which referred to “enemy states” – nations that fought against the original signatories, the Allied Powers of World War 2. Article 53 allows regional enforcement measures against such states in the event of a “renewal of aggressive policy,” without requiring prior authorization from the UN Security Council.
Beijing then lodged an official complaint with the UN over Takaichi’s statements. The embassy urged Japan “as a defeated country in World War II” to “reflect on its historical crimes” and change course on the Taiwan issue.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry dismissed that argument, accusing China of misinterpreting “obsolete clauses” that it claimed no longer align with UN practice. While the UN General Assembly recommended removing the “enemy state” references in 1995, the formal amendment process was never completed.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited a military base on Yonaguni over the weekend, an island about 110km east of Taiwan. He reiterated plans to deploy medium-range surface-to-air missiles there as part of a broader build-up on Japan’s southern island chain.
Russia also has outstanding issues with Japan, with whom it still has no formal peace treaty. Tokyo continues to insist on its claim to the four southernmost Kuril Islands, known in Japan as the “northern territories,” which became part of the USSR after World War 2 and remain a long-standing focal point for Japanese nationalists.
Sinisa Karan, who succeeded Milorad Dodik in Republika Srpska, called Russia “one of the greatest friends”
A close ally of longtime Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has won a snap presidential election in Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to preliminary results.
Sinisa Karan’s apparent victory comes after Dodik was removed from office over his refusal to obey the rulings imposed by an international envoy overseeing the peace-monitoring regime in Bosnia.
Karan, the candidate of Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the entity’s minister for scientific and technological development, took about 51% of the vote, after nearly all ballots were counted. Branko Blanusa, the candidate from the opposition Serb Democratic Party, won roughly 48%, with turnout just under 36%.
The snap vote was called after Bosnia’s state court convicted Dodik in February of failing to comply with the decisions of Christian Schmidt, the international high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Schmidt, a German national, has a strong mandate to oversee the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the bloody 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
In 2023, Schmidt invoked his powers to annul legislation passed by Republika Srpska’s authorities that sought to strip state-level courts and police of jurisdiction in the entity and declared the envoy’s decrees non-binding. Dodik himself has branded Schmidt a “tourist” and declined to recognize his authority.
A state court in Sarajevo later found Dodik guilty of failing to implement Schmidt’s decision, sentencing him to one year in prison – a term he avoided by paying a court-approved fine – and banning him from holding public office for six years.
With election results coming in, Karan pledged to continue Dodik’s policies “with ever greater force,” adding that “the Serb people have won.” Dodik, meanwhile, promised voters that “I will remain with you to fight for our political goals,” stressing that Karan’s “victory will be my victory too.”
Both Karan and Dodik have advocated for close ties with Russia, with the former calling Moscow “one of the greatest allies and friends of Srpska.” Dodik has echoed the sentiment, suggesting that the West was using Ukraine to provoke “a war with Russia.”
The US president has hinted at movement in talks after delegations from Washington and Kiev met in Geneva
US President Donald Trump has expressed cautious optimism about the result of talks in Geneva on the American peace plan to end the Ukraine conflict, saying that “something good” may be happening.
Washington presented Kiev with the proposal last week, giving it until Thursday to respond. Ukrainian and US delegations then met with key European NATO backers in Geneva on Sunday, after which the White House said in a statement that an “updated and refined peace framework” had been drafted, with final decisions on it to be made by Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
”Is it really possible that big progress is being made in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said the US and Ukraine had made a “tremendous amount of progress” on the framework, while stressing that Russian agreement is essential for any deal to hold.
While the original 28-point plan has not been made public, multiple outlets have reported that it includes clauses which Kiev and its European sponsors previously rejected, such as de facto recognition of Russian control over Crimea and Donbass, Ukraine abandoning its ambitions to join NATO, and downsizing its military.
According to Reuters, Ukraine’s European backers submitted a modified version of the proposal that pushes back on limits to Kiev’s armed forces and on territorial concessions.
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia had not received any official information about the outcome of the Geneva talks or any revised proposal and declined to comment on media reports.
Moscow confirmed earlier that it had received Washington’s draft, with President Vladimir Putin noting on Friday that “it could form the basis of a final peace settlement.”
Jair Bolsonaro was recently detained after months under house arrest while appealing his 27-year sentence for plotting a coup
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s alleged attempt to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor while under house arrest was the result of health problems and medication side effects, his lawyers said on Sunday.
Bolsonaro was earlier placed into custody after months of house arrest, with the Supreme Court set to vote Monday on whether to uphold his pre-emptive detention.
In September, the 70-year-old was sentenced to 27 years in prison over attempting to overturn the results of the country’s 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and his legal team is appealing the verdict. Earlier this month, Brazil’s top-court panel unanimously rejected his appeal of the prison sentence.
The ex-president “suffers from concomitant illnesses that require treatment” and takes various medications, including those “affecting the central nervous system,” the Agencia Brasil public news agency reported, citing the document submitted by Bolsonaro’s lawyers to the Brazilian Supreme Court.
The lawyers reportedly specified that the interaction of the medicines currently taken by the former president are known for “side effects, including altered mental status with possible mental confusion, disorientation, impaired coordination, sedation, impaired balance, hallucinations, and cognitive impairment.”
The attorneys requested the court to review the latest ruling to transfer him from house arrest to custody.
Bolsonaro’s case stems from an coup plot that according to prosecutors began in 2021 with efforts to erode public trust in Brazil’s electoral system. After Bolsonaro’s 2022 defeat, they alleged his supporters were urged to mobilize in the capital, Brasilia, where they stormed and vandalized the nation’s three branches of government on January 8, 2023.
US President Donald Trump has called Bolsonaro’s prosecution politically motivated, imposing steep 50% tariffs on Brazil. Earlier this month, Washington began rolling back some of the levies. The US has also sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who ruled the verdict, for what it described as “serious human rights violations,” and announced visa restrictions against him and other court officials.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has condemned what he called Washington’s pressure tactics, accusing the US of having “helped stage a coup” and vowing that Brazil “will not forget it.”
The US president has accused ABC and NBC of spreading “fake news” and said the networks should be “made smaller”
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at national broadcasters ABC and NBC, accusing them of acting as mouthpieces for the Democratic Party. The comments are the latest in Trump’s escalating criticism of mainstream media, which he argues routinely distorts coverage to favor his opponents.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump said television networks should be barred from expanding, citing what he called the growing influence of left-leaning news outlets.
“If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy. ABC & NBC, in particular, are a disaster – A VIRTUAL ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY,” Trump wrote. “They should be viewed as an illegal campaign to the Radical Left. NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If anything, make them SMALLER!”
Trump’s post came in response to a Newsmax story claiming that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is moving to give television networks greater reach and advance a merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc.
Trump has intensified his long-running attacks on the news media in recent weeks, even as his administration moves to restrict press access and tighten control over coverage.
The criticism has broadened beyond national broadcasters. After late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel joked about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Carr threatened to review – and potentially revoke – the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned local stations and their affiliates.
Trump last week renewed his call for the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses held by ABC, escalating a dispute that has simmered since his first term. The latest clash followed a question from an ABC News reporter pressing him on his handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein – an exchange that prompted Trump to accuse the network of pushing politically motivated narratives.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said last week that revoking broadcast licenses over a reporter’s question would not hold up legally, noting that networks do not hold licenses themselves and none of their station licenses are up for renewal soon.
Asked about Trump’s demand to pull ABC station licenses, FCC head Carr repeated his call to strengthen public-interest standards for broadcasters, saying the commission remained “open-minded.”
The FCC, an independent agency, grants eight-year licenses to individual stations, not national networks.
Pavel Durov has weighed in on claims that the US conservative activist’s assassin was trained with the French Legion
The allegations that the French government is behind the assassination of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk are “entirely possible,” Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has said.
The Russian tech entrepreneur was commenting on right-wing commentator Candace Owens’ claims that Kirk’s assassin “trained with the French Legion 13th Brigade with multi-state involvement.” The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, has been formally charged with aggravated murder and related counts in Kirk’s killing and is being held without bail as prosecutors indicate they may seek the death penalty.
In the same X post, shared on Friday, Owens said she had been warned by a high-ranking official that French President Emmanuel Macron had “authorized professional units” to carry out her assassination.
After reviewing everything Charlie Kirk has ever said about Macron’s France, I find Candace’s info about French involvement in his death entirely plausible.
“After reviewing everything Charlie Kirk has ever said about Macron’s France, I find Candace’s info about French involvement in his death entirely plausible,” Durov wrote on X on Sunday, sharing Owens’s post.
Durov, who was detained at the Paris airport last year over crimes linked to Telegram users, has been consistently critical of the French authorities, accusing them of embarking on a “crusade” against free speech. The tech billionaire, who holds French citizenship, maintains that his arrest over offenses committed by the platform’s users is “legally and logically absurd.”
In his message, Durov noted that Kirk “called for 300% tariffs on France” until the charges against him were dropped, linking to a post in which the activist accused Europe of targeting “CEOs of platforms where free speech thrives.” That message, written shortly before the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA was fatally shot on a university campus in Utah on September 10, argued that France should face “stiff and painful consequences” for Durov’s arrest.
President Trump should announce plans for a 300% tariff on French wine unless ALL charges are dropped on Pavel Durov immediately.
If Europe is going to imprison CEO’s of platforms where free speech thrives, there should be stiff and painful consequences.
The Telegram founder has claimed that during his detention he was asked by the head of the French secret service to censor conservative voices in Romania ahead of a controversial presidential election later nullified by the country’s Constitutional Court. Last month, Durov accused the French authorities of promoting surveillance in the name of law enforcement.
The tech billionaire, whose company operates from Dubai, was initially barred from leaving France during the investigation, but the travel ban was fully lifted earlier this month.
Haytham Ali Tabatabai was said to be second-in-command of the Lebanese militant group
An Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Sunday has killed a senior commander in the militant movement Hezbollah.
Haytham Ali Tabatabai, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Ali Tabatabai, was struck in the Haret Hreik district, a stronghold of Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital. Both Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed his death. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, the attack killed at least five people and injured 28 others.
Tabatabai joined Hezbollah as a teenager after its formation during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He was one of the few long-serving commanders to survive Israel’s targeted-killing campaign last year.
Hezbollah is among the Iran-backed forces opposing Israel’s regional dominance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the strike, calling it part of Israel’s ongoing efforts to destroy the group, which it accuses of terrorism.
“It is not for nothing that the US put a bounty of five million dollars on his head,” Netanyahu said on X, referring to the reward the US issued in 2016, a year after Tabatabai escaped an earlier Israeli assassination attempt.
Israeli officials said Tabatabai served as the group’s “second-in-command” within its current military hierarchy. Hezbollah referred to him as a “great commander.”
Netanyahu claimed Tabatabai had been overseeing Hezbollah’s rearmament efforts as the organization worked to rebuild its capabilities following a string of setbacks by Israel, including the detonation of booby-trapped pagers last year that Israeli intelligence previously infiltrated into the movement’s supply channels. He argued that dismantling the organization would enable “a better future… for every citizen in Lebanon.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the latest attack, calling on the international community to “assume its responsibility and intervene firmly and seriously to stop the attacks on Lebanon and its people.”
The results of the Geneva talks now have to be discussed with Russia, the US secretary of state has said
The US and Ukraine have made a “tremendous amount of progress” on a peace plan to end the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, stressing that Russian agreement is essential for any deal to hold.
Earlier media reports indicated that the 28-point peace plan included de facto recognition of Russia’s control over Crimea and Donbass. Meanwhile, the current lines of contact would be frozen in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, while Russia would pull back troops from Ukrainian territories it holds outside those areas. The deal also reportedly calls for Ukraine to cap its military at about 600,000 troops and stay out of NATO.
Rubio addressed reporters on Sunday after lengthy talks in Geneva, Switzerland, with a Ukrainian delegation, saying that one goal was “to take … 28 points or 26 points, depending on which version… and try to narrow the ones that were open items.” He added that while “there’s still some work to be done,”“we made a tremendous amount of progress.”
According to Rubio, some points involving the EU nations and NATO were placed on “a separate track… because it involves input from them.” At the same time, he declined to name the remaining sticking points in the peace talks, calling the moment “very delicate.”
“Some of it is semantics or language; others require higher-level decisions and consultation; others … just need more time to work through,” he said.
Asked about Moscow’s stance on the talks, Rubio noted that “obviously the Russians get a vote here… we now have to take what we come up with, if we can reach that agreement with the Ukrainian side, to the Russian side. They have to agree to this in order for it to work.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Moscow has received the US peace plan, adding that it has not yet been discussed “in detail.”
“I believe it could also form the basis of a final peace settlement,” Putin said. At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia was against discussing the roadmap through “megaphone diplomacy.”
The pontiff delivered a surprise video address to young people gathered outside a cathedral in Kosice
Pope Leo XIV has made a surprise appearance via video at a rave in Slovakia, extending his blessing to the crowd of young people during a DJ set.
The event, held outside the 14th-century St. Elizabeth Cathedral in Kosice, marked the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober. The celebration featured a concert-style setup with lasers, smoke effects, projection screens, and a DJ booth. The set was performed by Padre Guilherme, widely known as the “DJ priest,” who tours internationally with electronic shows that combine techno with sacred and folk elements.
Although the party took place on November 8, the video of the Pope’s message went viral over the weekend after Padre Guilherme shared it on social media with the caption: “Electronic music, faith and Pope Leo XIV message.”
The footage shows the pontiff appearing via a projection onto the cathedral walls as the priest performed his unreleased single “Dear Young People,” taken from his upcoming EP titled “Integral Ecology.” As the address played, lasers, spotlights, and projection mapping lit the facade.
“With joy I greet you as you gather before the splendid cathedral of Kosice, which is a beating heart of faith and hope,” the Pope said, addressing the crowd.
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, became the 267th head of the Catholic Church earlier this year and is the first American to assume the role. Since the beginning of his papacy, the pontiff has placed emphasis on cultural engagement and exploring new ways of promoting religious values through the arts.
His widely shared Letterboxd post listed his four favorite films: ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, ‘Ordinary People’, and ‘Life is Beautiful’, choices he said reflect “the best of the human spirit.”
