⚡️🇮🇱🇵🇸 – Up to a million Gazans are facing water shortages after Israel suspended the supply of fresh water to Gaza, according to UNICEF numbers cited in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

This comes as 4 out of 5 Israeli desalination plants face disrupted production. Ironically, the disruption was caused by a micoralgae bloom in the Mediterranean made possible by Israeli strikes on Gazan sewage infrastructure.

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🇺🇦❌🇷🇺 – Ukraine urged the UN's aviation body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), to completely ban civilian aircraft from Russian airspace.

President Zelensky said the airspace is "becoming completely unsafe", and has vowed to take reprisals against Russia as its drones have kept Kyiv under 7 continous days of air raid alerts.

The ICAO can't actually impose rules, but has warned civilian aircraft operators about the dangers of disruption due to Ukrainian attacks. Kyiv has kept its own airspace closed to civilian aircraft since the start of the war in 2022.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇻🇪 – Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro urged a U.S. judge to dismiss all charges against him due to his immunity as head of a foreign state, Reuters reports.

The charges were the base to kidnap him during the raid on Caracas on January 3. His trial is expected to start June 1, 2027.

His efforts could be in vain, considering the U.S. does not recognize him as the legitimate President of Venezuela since 2019, and precedents such as the case involving former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega are not favorable to his cause.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇪🇨💊 – The U.S. SOUTHCOM interdicted an alleged drug-trafficking vessel linked to the Ecuadorian group "Los Choneros", boarded and cleared the vessel, and then sank it.

The operation was coordinated with Ecuadorian authorities, who also took custody of the men in the vessel.

On Sept. 2, at the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, and in coordination and collaboration with the Government of Ecuador, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere (JTF-WHEM) successfully interdicted a vessel operating as a floating refueling station in support of illicit at-sea drug trafficking operations in international waters of the Eastern Pacific. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was operating in support of the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization.

U.S. Marines and Sailors, launched from USS San Antonio (LPD 17), interdicted, boarded, searched, and cleared the vessel without incident. Individuals removed from the vessel were safely transferred to Ecuadorian Authorities. Once cleared, U.S. forces sank the vessel

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⚡️🇺🇸🌍 – Axios' Barak Ravid claims Marco Rubio ordered all U.S. embassies in the world to send an official diplomatic demarche on Operation Economic Outcast to "the most senior level" of their host governments.

📝 A demarche is a formal diplomatic message that conveys a position, request, or protest. It's unclear what the demarches ordered by Rubio contain, but they're likely aimed at getting as many countries as possible on board with economic sanctions against Iran.

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🇺🇸✝️— U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated on an Evangelical podcast he would feel ‘not shocked if the antichrist was walking among us’.

➡️He adds that he is “doing as much of God’s work as possible” and that he is OK “if that leads to the end times”, which he says “are coming”.

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🇨🇳📞🇪🇬 - Chinese President Xi Jinping makes rare visit to Egypt as China seeks to deepen bilateral tie and bolster it's influence in the Middle East.

President Xi urges the region to reject external influence and take ownership of the region security architecture.

We must uphold the principle that the people of the Middle East are the masters of their own affairs, oppose external interference and support regional countries in strengthening dialogue on peace and security.

The high profile visit came after the large scale joint air drill "Eagles of Civilization" between the two armed forces and a slew of trade measures aimed at boosting bilateral trade.

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