US, Israel Discuss Expanding Cooperation on Iran

Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata (L) and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, meet in October. (Jake Sullivan via Twitter)
Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata (L) and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, meet in October. (Jake Sullivan via Twitter)
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US, Israel Discuss Expanding Cooperation on Iran

Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata (L) and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, meet in October. (Jake Sullivan via Twitter)
Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata (L) and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, meet in October. (Jake Sullivan via Twitter)

Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata has announced that talks with his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, are part of deepening strategic coordination between Tel Aviv and Washington on Iran’s nuclear program.

Hulata stressed that Israel “is trying to expand interest in Iran’s nuclear file so that it includes other issues related to Iranian arms in the region and hegemony schemes.” He also said he would discuss other matters during his trip to Washington, including deepening and expanding the Abraham Accords.

He kicked off his trip on Tuesday.

The top security official had participated in a security briefing with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on the eve of his trip to Washington.

He said that he and Sullivan have almost daily conversations by phone, but “sometimes it is necessary to meet face to face.”

He confirmed that his trip was planned, “but it became more urgent in wake of the phone call between Bennett and US President Joe Biden, two days ago.”

Hulata admitted that there are differences with Washington on several issues, but said that “coordination is deep, important and strategic and we are working on it.”

“Coordination with the US is an essential element that the Prime Minister insisted on from the first moment. It is no secret that Israel and the United States do not agree on the Iranian issue, especially when it comes to the nuclear deal,” said Hulata.

“There is a danger that after returning to the deal and lifting sanctions, the US will lose the tools that would allow it to impose a longer and stronger agreement on Iran,” warned Hulata.



EU Sends Aircraft as Belgium Fights Record Wildfire

Washington state Department of Natural Resources South Puget Sound region firefighter Kayla Tolbert assists in wildfire suppression efforts in Spokane County, Washington, U.S., August 5, 2026. REUTERS
Washington state Department of Natural Resources South Puget Sound region firefighter Kayla Tolbert assists in wildfire suppression efforts in Spokane County, Washington, U.S., August 5, 2026. REUTERS
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EU Sends Aircraft as Belgium Fights Record Wildfire

Washington state Department of Natural Resources South Puget Sound region firefighter Kayla Tolbert assists in wildfire suppression efforts in Spokane County, Washington, U.S., August 5, 2026. REUTERS
Washington state Department of Natural Resources South Puget Sound region firefighter Kayla Tolbert assists in wildfire suppression efforts in Spokane County, Washington, U.S., August 5, 2026. REUTERS

The European Union deployed three helicopters and two water bomber aircraft to tackle a record wildfire in eastern Belgium, the bloc's crisis commissioner said on Saturday, after Belgium requested emergency reinforcements.

The blaze in the High Fens, Belgium's largest nature reserve, has been burning since Friday and local firefighters, farmers and the army have sought to contain it.

By early Saturday afternoon, it had burned 1,600 hectares, a spokesperson for the administration of the Wallonia region in Belgium told Reuters.

That makes the fire the biggest on record in Belgium, surpassing a blaze in 2011 that burned nearly 1,400 hectares, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed.

Local authorities on Saturday told residents in the village of Sourbrodt to prepare for a possible evacuation. A children's summer camp in the region was already being evacuated, Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said in a post on X. European countries including Belgium suffered their fifth heatwave of the summer this week. Scientists say human-caused climate change has increased the likelihood of the hot and dry conditions that allow wildfires to spread faster and burn longer.

The EU coordinates the deployment of extra resources pooled from European countries, when a country requests emergency help. The aircraft sent to Belgium on Saturday were from the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands, EU Crisis Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said in a post on X.


Five Dead in Turkish Wedding Party Road Crash

File picture for illustration only shows a Turkish ambulance on an emergency call. (AFP)
File picture for illustration only shows a Turkish ambulance on an emergency call. (AFP)
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Five Dead in Turkish Wedding Party Road Crash

File picture for illustration only shows a Turkish ambulance on an emergency call. (AFP)
File picture for illustration only shows a Turkish ambulance on an emergency call. (AFP)

A Turkish minibus taking a family to a wedding party overturned Saturday killing five people, including two children, and injuring 11, authorities said.

The vehicle, transporting a family to a wedding in the southeastern city of Mus, was at Lice in Diyarbakir province when a tire burst and the driver lost control, NTV television reported.

The dead children were aged 10 and four, while three of the injured were in a critical condition, authorities said.


Xi Calls for Improving Disaster Prevention as Floods, Landslides Batter China

Scooters pass by a tree fallen during the hit of Typhoon Dolphin in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, 10 August 2026. EPA/Yu Riqian CHINA OUT
Scooters pass by a tree fallen during the hit of Typhoon Dolphin in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, 10 August 2026. EPA/Yu Riqian CHINA OUT
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Xi Calls for Improving Disaster Prevention as Floods, Landslides Batter China

Scooters pass by a tree fallen during the hit of Typhoon Dolphin in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, 10 August 2026. EPA/Yu Riqian CHINA OUT
Scooters pass by a tree fallen during the hit of Typhoon Dolphin in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, 10 August 2026. EPA/Yu Riqian CHINA OUT

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for improving the country's ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to natural disasters, after a string of deadly floods and landslides this summer.

Xi's remarks, published on Saturday in Qiushi, a journal central to Communist Party messaging, follow China's strongest typhoon this year and a series of landslides that killed dozens, underscoring the growing toll of extreme weather on the world's second-largest economy.

"As global warming continues, extreme weather events and disasters such as torrential rains, floods, typhoons, and droughts are ⁠increasing significantly, exacerbating ⁠their destructive impact," Xi said, according to the article.

Xi urged a shift towards pre-disaster prevention, stronger monitoring and early-warning systems, and efforts to close gaps in flood-control and drainage infrastructure in northern China, the article said.

His remarks were drawn from a speech ⁠delivered at a Politburo study session on April 28, Reuters reported.

China's strongest typhoon this year battered the capital with bouts of intense rain that flooded key roads and stranded vehicles, while lashing wide swathes of the country.

Last month, landslides triggered by flash floods in northwestern Gansu province killed 25 people, and another landslide in Chongqing in the southwest caused by a collapsed mountain left 51 dead.

China is increasingly battling destructive weather that scientists link to ⁠climate ⁠change, especially this year, as an emerging El Niño pattern boosts temperatures and fuels more frequent and intense typhoons.

China will "continuously improve our ability and level of prevention and response to various natural disasters, and effectively safeguard the lives and property of the people and social stability," Xi said.

Xi said disaster risks must not be allowed to spill into economic, energy, food and social security, and urged the use of technologies including artificial intelligence, drones and satellite remote sensing in rescue efforts.