War breaking news. Israel, draft calls start for Orthodox. Protests

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators are blocking the Route 4 highway near Bnei Brak, in central Israel, after the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) announced that from Sunday it will start rounding up members of the religious community. The police say the demonstration is illegal and are preparing to forcibly remove the protesters if they do not disperse. Dozens of protesters are sitting in the street.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza "half of the leadership of the military wing of Hamas (the Qassam Brigades, ed.) has been eliminated and about 14,000 members of the faction have been killed or captured". This is the balance sheet of the IDF after about nine months of conflict in Gaza. "Among the eliminated terrorists," the spokesman continued, "there are 6 Brigade commanders, over 20 Battalion commanders and about 150 company commanders. So far, the army has struck '37,000 targets inside the Strip and more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructure and launching sites'. Dozens of ultra-Orthodox are already protesting. They block, according to Ynet, a highway near Bnei Brak in central Israel. And security forces have reportedly been ordered to intervene against the protesters.

"Hamas is under pressure, more and more, because we are hurting it by hitting its senior commanders, eliminating thousands of terrorists." Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu said this while speaking on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem at a commemoration of the 2014 war with Hamas. "It is under pressure because we stand firm on our just demands despite all the pressure. This," Netanyahu stressed, "is precisely the time to increase the pressure further, to bring home all the hostages, dead and alive, and to achieve the goals of the war.

The Israeli army is reportedly increasingly convinced that Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas' military wing, was killed in last Saturday's airstrike in the south of the Gaza Strip, although it is still waiting for final confirmation before making a public announcement. The Times of Israel reports. The IDF, through intelligence information, believes that Deif was with Rafa'a Salameh, the commander of Hamas' Khan Younis Brigade, whose death was confirmed last Sunday. As for Deif, the army is waiting for final confirmation and believes that Hamas will 'try to hide his death for some time'.

The Israeli army will begin sending out the first draft cards to Orthodox youth from next Sunday. This was announced by the military spokesman, according to whom this "is part of the IDF's programme to promote the integration of members of the Orthodox community into its ranks". Recently, a landmark Supreme Court ruling also imposed military service for religious youth, a move that the religious community is opposing." The Idf," the spokesperson explained, "is working to recruit personnel from all parts of society in light of the compulsory conscription requirement in Israel, due to its status as a popular army and in view of the growing operational needs at this time, given the security challenges. "The IDF," the spokesman concluded, "will continue to operate in accordance with government decisions and the law.

The Basmanny Court in Moscow sentenced in absentia the lawyer and blogger Mark Feigin to 11 years imprisonment on charges of 'spreading false news about the army', i.e. violating the gag law that effectively prohibits any criticism of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, several Russian media, including the Interfax news agency, reported. According to the online newspaper Meduza, the lawyer runs a YouTube channel with about two million subscribers and has been indicted for having denounced on the Internet the killings of civilians of which Russian troops are accused.

Nasser Hospital officials say an Israeli airstrike killed 17 Palestinians on Tuesday in a military-declared "safe zone" outside the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Hospital officials said the attack occurred near a gas station in Muwasi, an area filled with tent cities housing thousands of Palestinians who fled Israeli offensives elsewhere in Gaza. The site is in a humanitarian 'safe zone' where the Israeli army had told fleeing Palestinians to take refuge.

There are 17 MEPs running for the 14 posts of Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament. Three are from the EPP, 5 from S&D, 2 from Patriots for Europe, 2 from Ecr, 2 from Renew, 1 from the Greens, 1 from The Left and 1 from Europe for Sovereign Nations.

The Hamas Health Ministry - reported by the media - reported at least 17 deaths in Khan Yunis in southern Strscia in an Israeli raid. The Wafa agency then reported another 8 dead at a school in Nuseirat in central Gaza. (

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will accept the resignation of the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, and his government by the end of the day. This is what Elysée Palace sources have leaked to Le Parisien. As the first post-legislative Council of Ministers has concluded, Attal and the government ministers will remain in office for current business, probably for the period of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, from 26 July to 11 August.

"Congratulations to Roberta Metsola on her re-election as President of the EU Parliament. I greatly appreciate her personal involvement in supporting Ukraine, as well as her continued commitment to protecting people and supporting our European way of life. I look forward to continuing our close cooperation to restore a just peace as soon as possible'. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote this on X.

Estonian President Alar Karis this morning assigned the current Climate Minister, Kristen Michal, the task of forming a new government. Michal, who had been mentioned by the Reform Party as a candidate to succeed Kaja Kallas, will have two weeks to present Karis with the composition of the new executive.

The European Commission's 'boycott' of the informal councils in Hungary - although the EU executive does not use this term - will not apply to the informal leaders' summit in Budapest. President Ursula von der Leyen will therefore go to the summit. "Instead, cooperation will remain at the level of Commissioners for formal councils, where decisions are taken," said a Commission spokesperson. "We took this decision to send a symbolic message for Viktor Orban's uncoordinated travels, which hurt the indispensable unity of the EU," he stressed.

The Kremlin reacts cautiously to statements by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who opened the door to talks with Moscow for the first time since spring 2022, mentioning a Russian presence at a future peace summit.

Zelenskyj assured that he was in favour of Moscow's presence at a future summit, after the conference organised in Switzerland in mid-June on peace in Ukraine, which brought together dozens of heads of state and government but also included Russia, had been ruled out. "The first peace summit was not a peace summit at all, so, of course, we must first understand what he (Zelenskyj) means by this," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in an interview.

Zelenskyj, for his part, said he wanted to present a 'plan' for 'a just peace' in November, the month of the US presidential elections. At the same time he said he wanted another summit on peace in Ukraine in which Moscow could participate this time. "I think Russian representatives should participate in this second summit," he announced.

Russia still occupies almost 20% of Ukrainian territory and the prospects for a ceasefire, or even a lasting peace between Kiev and Moscow, remain slim. However, for the first time since the failure of talks in the spring of 2022, following the Russian assault in February, Volodymyr Zelenskyj raises the idea of talks with Russia without demanding prior Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. The Kremlin, for its part, has so far ruled out any peace talks until Ukraine abandons the five regions that Moscow claims to annex and renounces its alliance with the West.

The review of the UK's defence strategy and military policy announced in recent days by the new Labour prime minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington was formally launched today in parallel with the confirmation of the commitment to increase war spending to 2.5% of GDP. 'At the beginning of a new era for Britain, we need to define the path to a new era for defence,' stressed the Defence Minister, John Healey, tasked under Starmer's moderate leadership to oversee the initiative against the backdrop of an international context recognised as 'volatile'. A backdrop in which Vladimir Putin's Russia continues to be seen as the number one antagonist of the Kingdom and the West (not only on the war front in Ukraine), but other 'threats' and situations of increasing tension, for example with China, are also mentioned. Healey then invoked the need to find a way towards 'a responsible increase in military spending'. An expenditure that London has long since taken beyond the 2% threshold agreed years ago at NATO, and with respect to which the new executive now intends to maintain the previous Conservative governments' target of reaching at least 2.5%, although without at the moment indicating an exact deadline, unlike what former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak did during the election campaign with a reference to 2030. The Conservatives, for their part, have already challenged Starmer and Healey to stick to that accelerated timetable, while several experts question the real potential of the Kingdom and its current economy to credibly support such overly ambitious and globally wide-ranging plans. The Labour government has in any case hired a working group of veterans (political and military) and advisors headed by 78-year-old Lord George Robertson, Defence Minister under Tony Blair between 1997 and '99 and later Secretary General of NATO. The group also includes figures such as Fiona Hill: British by birth, but naturalised American, an expert on Russian affairs and former intelligence advisor to Donald Trump's US administration, before the break with the former president, considered at the time to be very close to Washington's then national security advisor and neo-conservative super hawk John Bolton.

US intelligence officials believe that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is hiding in underground tunnels in the Khan Younis area. According to an anonymous source quoted by CNN, CIA Director Bill Burns said at a closed-door meeting over the weekend that the Hamas leader is coming under increasing pressure from commanders of the terrorist group's military wing to accept a hostage ceasefire agreement and end the ongoing war in Gaza. The CIA declined to comment on the report.

The Orban case is rapidly maturing into a full-blown institutional crisis. Signs of boycott of the EU presidency in office are multiplying. The role that the Hungarian premier is playing without a European mandate, with meetings with Putin, Xi Jinping and even Donald Trump running for the White House again, has now become a political stumbling block that threatens to paralyse the EU 'semester', in any case amputated by several weeks given the holiday period just around the corner. This was also echoed at Ecofin this morning. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti argued that the EU 'must remain engaged with the G7 partners to continue to provide adequate financial aid to Ukraine'. Support for Kiev does not appear to be a priority of the Hungarian presidency. For German minister Christian Lindner 'the Hungarian presidency unfortunately started with unilateral gestures on the diplomatic level, which we felt very disappointingly. Hungary knows that peace and European stability as a whole is being defended in Ukraine. It knows that we are partners and friends. We expect that aid to Ukraine will remain the top priority also during the Hungarian EU Council Presidency'. The European Commission has decided that the Commissioners will not participate in the informal ministerial meetings convened by the Hungarian Presidency, and will be replaced by EU officials. This is a decision never taken before. Spanish Minister of Labour Yolanda Diaz Perez announced that she will not attend the informal meeting of EU ministers in October.

"The EU must remain engaged with the G7 partners to continue to provide adequate financial aid to Ukraine". This was said by Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti at the public session of the Council of EU Economy Ministers in Brussels. Before him, other EU economics ministers had spoken, calling on the Hungarian EU presidency to ensure continued support for Ukraine. Before Minister Giorgetti's speech, Swedish Minister Elisabeth Svatesson had addressed the Ecofin with 'a statement', she said: 'Everything is overshadowed by the fact that the EU presidency started with the prime minister's visit to Moscow: it irritated and saddened me. As the presidency represents all of us,' he said addressing his Hungarian colleague. 'For many of us Ukraine is a priority, there is a war in Europe and we will help Ukraine as long as it takes. When the prime minister goes to Putin it is a statement. He did not represent me'. Along the same lines for Finland, Minister Matti Vanhanen: 'Aid to Ukraine must remain on the Ecofin agenda. It is essential for the EU that strong financial and military aid for Ukraine must continue along with humanitarian assistance,' he said. 'We must stand united and strongly condemn Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine' For Estonia, Mart Võrklaev, called for 'helping Ukraine against Russia's terrorism. We will have to do more we cannot just blandly monitor the economic and financial impact of the war. We must address Ukraine's needs it will still take strong work of the finance ministers' on the 'use of assets seized from Russia'. In the same vein, Denmark's Minister Stephanie Lose called for the EU to 'remain at the forefront of aid to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. Take this priority into account'. The Lithuanian representative especially lamented that 'aid to Ukraine deserves more attention on the strategic level among the priorities. Emphasis is placed on monitoring the economic consequences of the war. This is not enough: aid to Ukraine must remain a priority' with 'military and humanitarian financial aid' and the implementation of the G7 agreement on the use of frozen Russian assets. The Latvian representative expressed confidence that Hungary will act 'as an honest broker as EU president'. "Issues on Ukraine must remain on the agenda" and among the "key priorities" of the Ecofin Council's work.

In a letter to the leadership of the EU institutions, initiated by Estonian MEP Riho Terras (EPP), a group of MEPs calls for 'doing everything possible to suspend Hungary's voting rights in the Council' in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 7 of the EU Treaty due to the 'significant damage' caused by the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, with his 'peace mission' launched to coincide with the start of the rotating presidency of the EU Council, "exploiting and abusing" his role.

"In his so-called 'peace mission', Prime Minister Orban has deliberately left the impression that he is acting on behalf of the entire European Union, when in fact he has no authority to represent the EU or any other EU member state besides his own," observe the MEPs, who also accuse the Magyar prime minister of "actively undermining the EU's common positions" and "actively pursuing a political agenda contrary to the EU's common positions." In the letter, they therefore call for 'acting as soon as possible' to 'limit further damage, not only to the credibility of the EU as a whole, but also to the current geopolitical situation'. "This," they conclude, "requires concrete action, such as the suspension of Hungary's voting rights in the Council, as practice has shown that mere verbal condemnations of this situation have no effect.

A senior North Korean diplomat stationed in Cuba defected to South Korea last November, months before Seoul and Havana re-established relations, an article in the Chosun Daily newspaper reported today. The defector, identified as Ri Il Kyu, arrived on South Korean soil with his family, saying his decision was made out of 'frustration and anger' following an unfair job evaluation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the rejection of his request to receive medical treatment in Mexico. The man had been in charge of Political Affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Havana since 2019 and his role was to 'obstruct the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba', he explained to the South Korean newspaper.

"I will never back down from making difficult decisions. My door will always remain open. Members will be treated fairly and with dignity. As President, you know that I am capable of both defending our Parliament and building bridges across political divides. I am proud to be here today. And if you choose to put your trust in me, I will not let you down'. This was said by the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in her speech to the plenary before the vote for president.

"This must be a Parliament of debate and respect. A House where we can debate and argue our corner in lively and active sessions that capture people's attention and imagination," he added. "A Parliament where unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape is reduced, where simplification means we are less about ticking boxes and more about common sense. In which every abuse is combated and where it is easier to do our job'.

"People will look to us for direction," Metsola continued. Whether it is: to defend our values and the rule of law; to remain the strong advocate Ukraine needs; to amplify the voice of humanity in the Middle East as we seek sustainable peace; the need for us to stick to our commitments and maintain our Union as a global leader in rights, equality, security, climate, opportunity, competitive markets, free but fair, with a strong social pillar that allows everyone to be whoever they want to be and where no one is left behind."

The European Parliament was officially constituted on Tuesday in Strasbourg, following the European elections of 6-9 June. Outgoing President Roberta Metsola opened the constitutive session of the new Parliament. Pina Picierno (S&D), second vice-president of the outgoing Parliament, presided over the subsequent announcement of the candidates for the presidency of the Parliament. The secret ballot by paper ballot started at around 10.40am. Eight MPs elected by lot will act as tellers and oversee the process. The candidates are: Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta) and Irene Montero (The Left, Spain).

To be elected, a candidate needs an absolute majority of the valid votes cast, i.e. 50 per cent plus one. If no candidate is elected in the first round of voting, the same or other candidates may be nominated for a second round under the same conditions. A third round may take place, if necessary, under the same rules. If none of the candidates is elected in the third round of voting, the two candidates with the most votes in the third round shall proceed to a fourth and final round of voting, in which the candidate receiving the most votes shall be elected. Once elected, the new president will assume the presidency and may deliver an inaugural address.

The Kremlin said it considers claims that Donald Trump, should he win the US presidential election, might mediate on the war in Ukraine to be "speculation". Tass writes that. "Right now there is a lot of discussion and speculation about who is ready for what, who is adopting what position," Peskov said according to the Russian state agency. "Right now, he is a US presidential candidate as of yesterday. We are waiting for the results of the election, American voters will determine their own future, this is their concern, not ours," Peskov said.

"It is with a mixed feeling that I attend this event. Of course it is good to meet my colleagues, but at the same time I am both angry and sad since the start of the Hungarian presidency. The visit to Putin and Russia is not only an insult to Ukraine but to all the other 26 EU states, and this is what I will say at the meeting. And I am puzzled that the Hungarian Presidency does not put Ukraine at the top of the agenda. These two things, probably connected, make me angry'. This was said by Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, arriving at the Ecofin Council in Brussels.

The German government has banned the far-right magazine 'Compact' and the production company Conspect Film Gmbh. According to reports from the Ministry of the Interior, inspections of the organisation's management flats and premises in Brandenburg, Hesse, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt have been carried out since this morning. "This magazine raises unspeakable hatred against Jews, against people with a history of migration behind them and against our parliamentary democracy," commented Minister Nancy Faeser.

Witnesses had tried to warn security officers at least 86 seconds before the assailant opened fire on Donald Trump, resulting in the death of one person and the wounding of two others, analysis of footage taken on Saturday in Butler County shows. Some of the people present at Trump's rally had noticed a suspect on a rooftop near the stage. Footage of a chaotic scene in which they begin calling the police "Officer! Officer!", and directing at least one officer - who by badge analysis is assigned to the town's police - to the rooftop, confirm their words. A woman says: 'He is on the roof'. A police officer then turns his gaze towards the roof.

The assailant starts shooting two minutes and two seconds after the start of the newly released video, which begins with a man's voice saying people were pointing at the roof of the Agr International company specialising in the production of industrial equipment. The gunshots begin 86 seconds after the first recorded attempt to alert the police. The Agr warehouse was not included in the security perimeter set up by Secret Service agents to protect Trump. Beyond the perimeter, it was up to the town and county police to ensure security, but according to a plan approved by the Security Service.

"We cannot expect any peace initiatives from Donald Trump until the election. I can state with certainty, however, that immediately after his election victory he will not wait until he takes office, but will be ready to act immediately as a peace broker." Viktor Orbán wrote this in the letter sent to European Council President Charles Michel and other EU leaders, and viewed by the Financial Times. "He has detailed and well-founded plans for this," he added.

Ukrainian forces shot down an unknown number of Russian drones in the Kiev region last night, the wreckage of which fell into a private courtyard causing a fire and damaged two non-residential buildings, the head of the administration of the Ukrainian capital region, Ruslan Kravchenko, announced on Facebook, as Ukrainska Pravda reports. No injuries or casualties were reported. "In the night, the enemy attacked our region with drones. The air alarm signal was announced twice and lasted almost all night. Air defence forces worked in the region. The fall of drone fragments was recorded in 2 districts,' the message read. Kravchenko explained that debris from Russian drones that fell in the courtyard of a house set stubble on fire and that the two affected buildings suffered facade damage. 'Civil and critical infrastructure was not damaged. There were no casualties,' he concluded.

"The first peace summit was not a peace summit at all, so we need to understand what" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "has in mind" when he talks about a second peace summit: this was said by Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, commenting on the fact that Zelensky said he was in favour of Russia's participation in the next peace summit. This was reported by Tass.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two senior Israeli officials that the number of civilian casualties in the Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip is "unacceptably high". This was reported by his spokesman after the Israeli army stepped up attacks in recent days, including on a refugee camp and several UN-run schools where civilians had taken refuge. Blinken received Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, "to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza," said Blinken spokesman Matthew Miller. Casualties "still remain unacceptably high. We continue to see too many civilians killed in this conflict'. On Saturday, Israeli attacks killed more than 90 people in the al-Mawasi camp near Khan Younis, designated as a safe zone.

The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group announced late yesterday evening, after a group meeting in Strasbourg, that the overwhelming majority of its members will vote in favour of the re-election of the current President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. For co-chair Nicola Procaccini, 'Roberta Metsola has demonstrated her commitment to dialogue and her openness to balance and compromise, even when there are strong differences of opinion. She is able to build bridges and find common ground between the political camps'. For co-president Joachim Brudzinski, 'Metsola has many of the qualities that a parliamentary president needs: she is pragmatic and consensus-oriented. Her commitment to Ukraine is also remarkable. These points form the basis of our support for her re-election." At the meeting, the Conservatives also decided to put forward MEPs Roberts Zile and Antonella Sberna as candidates for the 14 posts of Vice-President of the European Parliament. In addition, Kosma Złotowski was nominated as Ecr's candidate for one of the five Quaestors. This morning the election of the President of the Parliament takes place, this afternoon that of the Vice-Presidents. Tomorrow morning MEPs will elect the Quaestors.

Ukraine continues to demonstrate its willingness to negotiate with Russia on its own terms, with demands for a peace agreement in accordance with international law: in direct contrast to Russia's reluctance to engage in negotiations that would result in anything other than the full surrender of Kiev. The Institute for the Study of War (Isw) writes this. The US study centre points out that yesterday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was in favour of Russia's participation in the upcoming peace summit. However, Isw experts point out, recent statements by the Kremlin continue to show that Russia is inflexible on negotiations and will not participate in a second peace summit because its terms are not acceptable given Moscow's demands.

"Ukraine's demands for Russia's complete withdrawal from occupied territory are provided for in international law and are therefore reasonable," the report states. "However, Russia's demands for the complete capitulation of Ukraine and Russia's continued occupation of Ukrainian territory are and would be violations of international law. Furthermore, the Isw continues to believe that Vladimir Putin's demands for the capitulation of Ukraine would allow Russian forces and occupation administrations to continue their deliberate and large-scale campaigns of ethnic cleansing in occupied Ukraine. The complete restoration of the integrity of Ukrainian territory is therefore necessary to free the Ukrainian people from Russian threats. 'Accepting anything but the liberation of its people by Ukraine is an implicit support for Russia's illegal occupation of more than five million Ukrainians,' the Isw concludes.

Three Israeli settlers were slightly injured in a shootout. This was reported by al Jazeera Arabic, adding that Israeli forces closed the checkpoint in Deir Sharaf, near Nablus, in the West Bank.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame secured another five-year term after winning 99% of four-fifths of the votes counted, extending his two-and-a-half-decade rule of the East African nation. Kagame, 66, faced the same two contenders he beat in the election seven years ago. Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda got 0.53 per cent of the vote, while independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana got 0.32 per cent, according to provisional results announced by the National Electoral Commission late Monday evening.

 At least three other candidates were excluded from the race, including long-time critic Victoire Ingabire and businesswoman Diane Rwigara. Both have been imprisoned for crimes such as terrorism and incitement to insurrection. Kagame has de facto ruled Rwanda since 1994, when he led a rebel army that ended a genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed. First elected in 2002, he was able to extend his rule after the nation decided in 2015 to abolish the constitutional two-term limit, allowing him to remain in power until 2034.

Further reading: Rwanda, Kagame heading for fourth term in the (non-)Kigali vote

Russia has lost 561,400 soldiers in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on 24 February 2022. This was reported by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This figure includes the 1,110 casualties suffered by Russian forces on the last day alone. According to the report, Russia also lost 8,227 tanks, 15,862 armoured fighting vehicles, 20,680 vehicles and fuel tanks, 15,368 artillery systems, 1,119 multiple rocket launch systems, 892 air defence systems, 361 aircraft, 326 helicopters, 12,193 drones, 28 boats and one submarine.

"Keep your eyes open, because these people (the Democrats ed) want to cheat and they do, and frankly that's the only thing they do well." Former US President Donald Trump said this in a video broadcast at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, urging Gop supporters to use "every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats", including voting by mail. CNN reports. "We don't want what happened in 2020 to happen again," Trump added, returning to the alleged irregularities in the last presidential election, in which he was beaten by Joe Biden.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk intends to pay $45 million a month to a new super political action committee in support of former US President Donald Trump's presidential run. The 'Wall Street Journal' reports this, citing people familiar with the matter. Other supporters of the group called America Pac, include Palantir Technologies Pltr co-founder Joe Londsale, the Winklevoss twins, former US Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft and her husband, Joe Craft, who is the CEO of coal producer Alliance Resource Partners, writes the US business newspaper. America Pac, formed in June, focuses on voter registration and urges voters to vote early and request ballots by mail in undecided states, the 'Wsj' reports. The advocacy group estimated that Democrats have historically had very solid campaigns to push voters to vote and intends to counter Biden's campaign efforts in undecided states.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser banned the right-wing extremist magazine 'Compact'. Since the early hours of the morning, law enforcement officers searched the headquarters of the magazine in Falkensee and Werder near Berlin and Potsdam. The homes of editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer and his wife as well as other employees of the extremist magazine were also searched. The subsidiary 'Conspect Film' was also banned. 'The organisations are against the constitutional order'.... . The current ban prohibits the continuation of previous activities. Violations of this ban constitute criminal offences,' reads a note from the Ministry of the Interior. "It is to be feared that the recipients of media products are incited and encouraged to act against the constitutional order by the publications, which also aggressively propagate the overthrow of the political order," the Interior Ministry states.

"Today I banned the right-wing extremist magazine Compact. It is a central organ of the right-wing extremist scene. This magazine incites unspeakable hatred against Jews, against people with a history of migration and against our parliamentary democracy,' said Interior Minister Faeser. The magazine has been classified as a suspect case since 2020 and a 'proven right-wing extremist organisation' since 2021. In its annual report, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence), states that 'Compact' disseminates anti-Semitic, anti-minority content, historical revisionism and conspiracy ideology in its various publications'. "Our message is very clear: we will not allow ethnicity to define who belongs to Germany and who does not. Our constitutional state protects all those who are opposed because of their faith, their origin, the colour of their skin or even their democratic position,' Faeser continued.

Russia's air defences shot down 13 Ukrainian drones last night, most of them in the Rostov region, the Moscow Defence Ministry announced, as reported by Tass. "During the night nine drones were shot down in the Rostov region, one in the Belgorod region, one in the Kursk region, one in the Voronezh region and one over the Black Sea near the western coast of the Crimean peninsula," a statement read.

Overnight, Israeli aircraft struck "Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Houla, Kfarkela and Bani Haiyyan in southern Lebanon". The army said this, according to which Israeli artillery also struck "in the areas of Blida, Deir Mimas and Rmeish to remove a threat".

Two attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted ships in the Red Sea as a new US aircraft carrier approaches the region to secure the key international trade route, which has been under assault since war broke out between Israel and Hamas nine months ago. Three small Houthi boats attacked the Panamanian-flagged and Israeli-owned MT Bently I off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen. The captain of the boat also reported three separate waves of missile attacks that exploded in the vicinity of the ship. On Monday, in another incident, the MT Chios Lion, a Liberian-flagged tanker owned by the Marshall Islands, was attacked by an unmanned Houthi aerial vehicle. According to British and American authorities, both ships and all crew are safe.

According to the British and American authorities, three small Houthi boats, two of them manned and one unmanned, attacked the Panamanian-flagged and Israeli-owned MT Bently I off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen.

The 'small unmanned boat collided twice with the ship and the two small crewed boats fired at the boat', the UK stated.

Donald Trump did not answer a Russian journalist's question about his willingness to negotiate with Russian leader Vladimir Putin should he win the presidential election scheduled for 5 November. This was reported by Tass After the first day of the convention, to which Trump arrived late at night with his ear bandaged, the former US president greeted his supporters by shaking hands with some of them.

Israelis were lightly wounded in a shooting attack on a passing car near the northern West Bank junction of Ramin, near the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron. This was said by a military spokesman who said the army is looking for the perpetrators of the attack.