Global Express | September 19, 2026 — Two Ships Attacked in Strait of Hormuz as Trump Says Next Move Could Be to "Annihilate" Regime

1. Two ships attacked in Strait of Hormuz as Trump says next move could be to "annihilate" regime

Source: CBS News

According to CBS News, the war with Iran is continuing and two more ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying his next move could be to "annihilate" the Iranian regime. Late on Friday, the U.N. Security Council said the Houthis' military escalation, attacks and threats "risk further expanding the conflict, threatening maritime security and international trade," and undermine efforts to secure peace in Yemen. It warned that continued escalation would worsen the country's already dire humanitarian situation.

Iran's judiciary announced on Saturday the execution of a man accused of providing information about Iranian missile sites to Israeli intelligence. Authorities said the man, Hossein Pedaran, had given Mossad information on missile sites in Isfahan province in central Iran, without saying when he was arrested or tried.

Saudi Arabia issued air raid alerts on Saturday and explosions were heard in the capital, Riyadh. A message received by residents said "the area is under a hostile aerial threat" — the first time the capital has been directly affected since the conflict in neighbouring Yemen intensified in July. Meanwhile, the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz has redirected 105 commercial vessels heading into or out of Iranian ports, according to U.S. Central Command.

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2. New Israeli documentary NAZA sparks fierce political backlash

Source: Al Jazeera

A new documentary about the Israeli military's actions in Gaza, NAZA, has triggered a fierce backlash in Israel. The film by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, but has drawn heavy criticism from Israel's political and media establishment.

Few of the film's central allegations are new, yet it has pushed the issue to the centre of Israel's political debate. Culture Minister Miki Zohar called for the directors to be stripped of their citizenship and investigated for treason by the internal intelligence service. Army chief Eyal Zamir dismissed the film as being built on a blood libel and ordered a legal probe to track down its military and intelligence sources.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also cited the film while advancing legislation to revoke citizenship from anyone deemed to be smearing the country's soldiers. Orly Noy, an editor at Local Call, said the directors and their families and friends are under attack: "They're talking about revoking their citizenship. They're asking the Shin Bet to investigate them — for making a film."

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3. Russia's new missile tactics leave Kyiv residents exhausted

Source: BBC

Russia has scaled up the intensity and frequency of its attacks on the Ukrainian capital this year. A BBC Verify analysis of government figures found Kyiv is now suffering more daily air raid alerts than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Daria, 27, used to sleep through the explosions in her Kyiv apartment, but that changed this year. During an attack one night in May, she and her boyfriend sheltered in the corridor of their ninth-floor flat as blast waves slammed the windows open and shut. "When the fight ended, there was no longer anything to distract me. That's when I realised I was really scared," she said. After a young mother was killed running to a shelter in June, Daria left the city, returning to her family's country house 30km away and now commuting four hours a day to work in Kyiv's defence sector.

Her exhaustion is far from unique. Olha Vlasova, 62, lives on the seventh floor with her 98-year-old mother, Nadia. When sirens sound, she covers her mother with a blanket, pushes a mattress into the window frame and hides in a wardrobe. Russia now relies less on detectable aircraft and more on ballistic missiles that offer little warning — alerts sometimes begin only moments before impact, or at the same time as the first explosions.

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4. European leaders warn public over Russia's 'intensified threat'

Source: politico.eu

According to politico.eu, top European officials are increasingly alarmed that Russia could stage drone or missile attacks against NATO countries as Moscow steps up its hybrid campaign across the continent. NATO, however, says it sees no risk of an "imminent attack."

Germany is preparing hospitals for a possible conflict, Lithuania has updated evacuation plans, NATO troops are exercising in the Baltic region, and Belarusian forces have staged large manoeuvres near Lithuania. On Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Moscow could send drones or missiles into the territory of NATO countries supporting Ukraine "in the next few months."

French President Emmanuel Macron summoned party leaders and 2027 presidential candidates for an emergency meeting on Friday on Ukraine, Iran and the growing energy crisis, calling Tusk's warnings "sound and well-documented" and announcing a new critical infrastructure protection plan. Between January and August, there were 100 officially attributed hybrid incidents across Europe, up from 60 in the same period last year, according to the Ukraine-based Sahaidachnyi Security Center.

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5. Saudi Aramco to skip crude deliveries to European buyers next month

Source: East Money (东方财富)

Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Saudi Aramco, has told at least two European refining customers that it will not continue contractual crude deliveries next month, after an attack on a key Saudi pipeline to the Red Sea, people familiar with the matter said.

European customers typically receive Saudi crude through long-term contracts to ensure steady monthly supply. But there will be no such deliveries next month, and the decision applies to all European buyers, the sources said. Saudi Aramco declined to comment. The shortfall is forcing European buyers to seek expensive alternative supplies.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said on the 11th of this month that the Riyadh and Medina sections of the country's East-West pipeline came under repeated attacks on the morning of the 10th, prompting precautionary shutdown measures; the pipeline has not returned to normal operation. To bypass the blocked Strait of Hormuz, Aramco had used the pipeline — more than 1,200km long with peak capacity of 7 million barrels per day, 5 million of which is for export — to move crude from its eastern Gulf fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

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6. Airlines cut cheaper flights as jet fuel prices spike

Source: CNN

Airlines are cutting more flights this year in response to high fuel prices. Executives from United, American and Southwest Airlines said at an investors conference on Wednesday they expect to eliminate cheaper, less profitable flights from their schedules in the final months of the year.

"If fuel is higher-for-longer, I think that's a natural response… that you trim some of that capacity off," Southwest CFO Tom Doxey said. Airlines already trimmed flights from their summer schedules and raised baggage fees. United CFO Michael Leskinen said carriers are not seeing signs demand is weakening, even with higher fares and fees.

As the Iran war drags on, the four largest U.S. airlines — United, Delta, American and Southwest — together paid nearly 80% more for fuel from April to June than a year earlier. The average price of a gallon of jet fuel rose to $4.56 on Thursday, the highest since early May, according to Argus Research. Experts say the flights most likely to be cut are cheaper, less popular ones on less travelled days or at very late or early hours.

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7. Japan's centenarians top 100,000 for the first time

Source: Al Jazeera

Japan is now home to more than 100,000 people aged 100 or older, a new longevity milestone for a country facing an accelerating demographic crisis. The number of centenarians reached a record 107,677 this year, according to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — up 7,914 from 2025 and the 56th consecutive annual rise. Women account for almost 88 percent of the total.

Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno said he was "very pleased that many people are living long, healthy and active lives," citing advances in medical technology as well as healthy lifestyles and diets. But behind the celebration lies a profound imbalance: Japan's elderly population keeps growing while births remain at an all-time low, leaving a shrinking workforce to fund rising pension, healthcare and social-care costs.

Almost three in every 10 residents are now aged 65 or older, a proportion projected to approach 40 percent by 2070. More than 800,000 people were aged 95 or above last year while only about 700,000 babies were born. Japan's population peaked at about 128 million in 2008 and is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, a decline of roughly 30 percent.

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8. Death toll from Pakistan police headquarters attack rises to 31

Source: 8world

The death toll from the bombing and shooting at a police headquarters in Pakistan has risen to 31, with more than 100 others injured, according to 8world.

Citing AFP, the attack took place on the afternoon of the 18th at the police headquarters in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The building housed the counter-terrorism department, the special branch and important offices of several other police units. Local police said 16 of the 31 dead were officers, and most of the injured were also officers, several of them in critical condition.

The Pakistani armed group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack. A police officer, speaking anonymously, said several militants were still hiding inside the police building and security forces were still exchanging fire with them, though the exact number of gunmen was not known.

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9. Google's Gemini accessed three real companies' systems during a cybersecurity test

Source: Fox Business

Google's Gemini artificial intelligence accessed the protected systems of three real companies while undergoing a cybersecurity test, including one instance in which the model repeatedly guessed passwords until it gained access, Fox Business reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the incidents took place in May and mark the first known examples of Google's AI autonomously accessing real companies' systems during this type of evaluation. Google confirmed the incidents to the outlet. The test was run by Irregular, a company also involved in evaluating models connected to similar incidents. The AI had been instructed to attack a fictional company inside a controlled testing environment, but internet access was unintentionally available and the fictional company happened to share its name with a real business.

In a statement to FOX Business, Google emphasised that the model stopped in all three instances and said changes had since been made to the testing process. "Safe development of powerful AI models is critical and we invest deeply in this area," said Heather Adkins, Google's vice president of security engineering. "In a standard evaluation, the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test. In all three of these instances, the model stopped." Google said no harm was caused to the companies, all of which were notified.

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10. Trump says war with Iran will end 'very soon'; U.S. in contact with Houthis

Source: Cailianshe (财联社)

U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on Friday that the war with Iran will end "very soon" and said Washington is in contact with Yemen's Houthis, according to Cailianshe.

Speaking about Iran on September 18 local time, Trump said "the war will end very soon." He repeated that Iran will not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, saying that once the war ends, petrol prices will fall back to previous levels or even lower. Trump said military action was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, referring to the use of B-2 bombers against Iranian nuclear sites. "I had no choice," he said.

Trump also said Washington is holding talks with the Houthis and claimed the group is interested in reaching an agreement with the United States. Meanwhile, tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis continue to escalate. A Houthi spokesman said Saudi warplanes carried out 26 air strikes on Yemen's Taiz province in the past 24 hours and 300 strikes this week. International oil prices fell on Friday, with the October WTI contract down 1.58% at $100.3 a barrel.

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