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Israeli Military Carries Out Drills Simulating Iranian Terrains

An Israeli soldier walks past military vehicles in a gathering point near the Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (File photo: AP)
An Israeli soldier walks past military vehicles in a gathering point near the Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (File photo: AP)
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Israeli Military Carries Out Drills Simulating Iranian Terrains

An Israeli soldier walks past military vehicles in a gathering point near the Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (File photo: AP)
An Israeli soldier walks past military vehicles in a gathering point near the Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (File photo: AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz made a surprise visit to troops carrying out war exercises in northern Israel, which included a landing operation in a mountainous area similar to the topography of Iranian mountains.

Some 3,000 soldiers from the Golani Brigade, armored units, artillery, and reservist brigades participated in the drill.

"No matter what happens between Iran and the world powers — and we are certainly concerned about the fact that there is insufficient severity in dealing with Iranian violations — Israel will protect itself with its forces," Bennett said ahead of the resumption of the nuclear talks in Vienna.

“The world needs to act against Iran, and Israel is prepared to do what is needed on all of these fronts and the northern front in particular,” Gantz said after visiting the forces.

Later, Bennett's office issued a statement saying the Prime Minister assessed the situation with Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Aviv Kochavi.

US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley met with Israeli officials, including alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

Malley aims to coordinate with Mideast allies before Washington resumes the indirect talks with Tehran to revive the nuclear deal in Vienna.

Sources close to Lapid said the FM told Malley that Iran has no intention of returning to the deal.

Lapid believes Tehran is simply trying to buy time through negotiations over its nuclear program until the issue of rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal is no longer relevant.

The sources confirmed that Lapid raised Israel's technical intelligence concerns about returning to the agreement and lifting sanctions.

An official from Bennett's office said Israeli officials fear that the different positions between the former and the current US administration will increase Iran's intransigence and perhaps manipulation until Tehran becomes a "nuclear threshold state."

Israeli leaders discussed with Malley the military option as a serious and essential alternative.

The former head of Israeli military intelligence research, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser, said the US is sending messages that it is not interested in war and Israel is not behaving as if it wants war with Iran. He indicated Tehran might increase its provocations.

Kuperwasser believed Iran is a few weeks away from producing military-enriched uranium for the first explosive device and has started producing metallic uranium, which can be interpreted as having intentions to produce nuclear weapons.

Israel is not ready to act against Iran because it does not have US support or the operational capabilities, the official believes.

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World

‘I’m Going to Stay Calm’: 48 Hours Under the Rubble in Venezuela

Volunteers and rescuers help to find survivors in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following the June 24 twin earthquakes. (Reuters)
Volunteers and rescuers help to find survivors in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following the June 24 twin earthquakes. (Reuters)
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‘I’m Going to Stay Calm’: 48 Hours Under the Rubble in Venezuela

Volunteers and rescuers help to find survivors in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following the June 24 twin earthquakes. (Reuters)
Volunteers and rescuers help to find survivors in a collapsed building in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following the June 24 twin earthquakes. (Reuters)

Andrea Canonico focused on her breathing to stay calm as she lay trapped under a building that had crumbled during the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week.

Just 23 years old, Canonico spent almost 48 hours in the same position before being pulled out -- alive.

"The most important thing about all of this was that I never lost hope," Canonico told AFP in the Los Corales neighborhood in the city of La Guaira, the hardest-hit by the disaster.

She is holding on to that hope for her 20-year-old brother and 91-year-old aunt who remain missing.

Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes have killed almost 2,000 people, with warnings that the figure could soar.

- 'I'm going to sleep' -

"I told myself, I'm going to sleep," Canonico recalled, up to her elbows in bandages following the ordeal.

"This is in the middle of a full-blown disaster," she had told herself. "It's surely going to keep shaking. I'm going to stay calm; I'm not going to get worked up about the breathing issue."

She says she was able to sit up despite being covered by around six meters of rubble.

"I had my phone, of course," which allowed her to keep track of time and enjoy a little light.

She was able to communicate with a man who was stuck a little higher up. Once he got out, he told his rescuers that she was also trapped.

"Above me there was an opening I was able to climb up through," Canonico said, explaining how she "managed to reach the other opening the rescuers were making."

"From there I kept climbing while they pulled me up, and that's how I was able to get out."

- 'The mole' -

"Is anyone alive in here?!" the voice of Moises Faramaya ricochets around the ruins of the same neighborhood.

The ex-miner is using his know-how to rescue others in the same situation as Canonico.

The 26-year-old says he has rescued 16 people alive and recovered 22 bodies in La Guaira, which authorities have declared a "disaster zone."

He told AFP about one of the rescued, who he heard "scratching at a wall."

"The person was pinned down but could move their hand. And I got them out alive," said Faramaya, who says he uses "nothing but a pickaxe and a shovel" to pick through the rubble.

Nicknamed "the mole," Faramaya says he got good at digging during a six-year stint in the mines of El Callao in the mineral-rich state of Bolivar.

Firefighters and experts ask for his help, and he hardly eats or sleeps, only smoking cigarettes to "stay active" during his brief breaks.

"The work you do in there isn't easy -- the dust, the smell of dead people who are already decomposing. But here we are, persevering," he said.

- Between hope and despair -

Authorities recently declared that everyone in Canonico's building had died.

Alexander Garcia, a 44-year-old waiter, said he heard firefighters declare "Code 14," which he later found out meant that there were no survivors.

But when US rescue workers and Spanish sniffer dogs found traces of life, his hopes for his two trapped brothers were rekindled.

"Everyone heard them, everyone," he told AFP after his mother was pulled from the detritus alive but later died.

Rescue efforts continue under torchlight as darkness falls.

Heavy rain on Tuesday morning paused operations and dampened spirits, however.

The critical 72-hour window during which survivors were still likely to be found closed on Saturday evening.

Hopes of finding survivors had faded substantially by Tuesday.

World

Afghanistan Says Airstrikes Launched on Pakistan; Islamabad Says Drones Shot Down

Taliban security officials stand guard on a street in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 June 2026. (EPA)
Taliban security officials stand guard on a street in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 June 2026. (EPA)
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Afghanistan Says Airstrikes Launched on Pakistan; Islamabad Says Drones Shot Down

Taliban security officials stand guard on a street in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 June 2026. (EPA)
Taliban security officials stand guard on a street in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 30 June 2026. (EPA)

Afghanistan's ‌Taliban said they launched airstrikes into Pakistani territory, while Islamabad said its forces had intercepted and shot down four rudimentary drones in the southern resource-rich province of Balochistan.

Tuesday's exchanges were the latest in a series of clashes between the South Asian neighbors.

Afghanistan's defense ministry said its forces launched airstrikes on what it said was an ISIS center in the town of Saranan ‌in Pakistan's ‌border province of Balochistan, as ‌well ⁠as elsewhere in Khyber ⁠Pakhtunkhwa province.

In a statement, Pakistan's military said the drones were spotted immediately and neutralized.

Provincial authorities confirmed the drone attack and said a drone was sighted near a government school in Saranan. Two people were injured, ⁠officials said.

Afghanistan has no fighter jets ‌but is known ‌to possess at least six aircraft and 23 helicopters, ‌data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic ‌Studies shows. The Taliban forces are also known to have drones that have been used in fighting with Pakistan.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants ‌it blames for plotting attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban denies the accusations, ⁠saying ⁠militancy is Pakistan's internal problem.

At least 28 civilians were killed and 49 injured in Monday's airstrikes by Pakistan on its border with Afghanistan, in what Islamabad called retaliation for "terrorist attacks" on its soil.

The conflict between the allies turned foes has killed hundreds of people this year, with no results yet from efforts to ease tension mediated by China.

World

Xi Vows to Strengthen China’s Military, Stamp Out Corruption

Chinese President Xi Jinping looks on as People’s Liberation Army honor guard hold party flags during a ceremony marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping looks on as People’s Liberation Army honor guard hold party flags during a ceremony marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Xi Vows to Strengthen China’s Military, Stamp Out Corruption

Chinese President Xi Jinping looks on as People’s Liberation Army honor guard hold party flags during a ceremony marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping looks on as People’s Liberation Army honor guard hold party flags during a ceremony marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Wednesday to strengthen and modernize the military and to stamp out corruption within the ruling Communist Party.

Xi underscored the importance of a "strong military" in a speech to political and military leaders as well as Chinese Communist Party members gathered at the Great Hall of the People for the party's 105th founding anniversary.

Analysts have questioned the ability of China's armed forces to fight effectively since Xi's sweeping anti-graft campaign gutted its top ranks.

Xi's years-long effort to purge corruption has brought down two defense ministers in the past three years and reduced the once seven-member Central Military Commission -- China's top military body -- to just himself and one other general.

The Chinese leader on Wednesday swore to "uphold the party's absolute leadership" over the armed forces and strengthen the military.

"We must advance the modernization of national defense and the armed forces," Xi told party members.

The CCP also has to "resolutely wage the critical, protracted, and comprehensive battle against corruption", he added.

The Central Military Commission -- which Xi heads -- has published new measures that would "establish iron rules for strict education, strict management, and strict supervision" of senior military cadres, state media reported in May.

Xi also reiterated on Wednesday his commitment to see China gain control of Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its territory.

"Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing the complete unification of the motherland is an unswerving historical mission of our party and the shared aspiration of all Chinese people," he said.

Xi urged his country to "oppose interference by external forces", without naming any specific countries.

The CCP was founded on July 1, 1921 and had more than 101 million members as of late 2025, according to state news agency Xinhua.