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US Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Codify Sanctions on Iran’s Missile Program

US President Joe Biden (C), alongside Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) and Biden's wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (C-R), hosts members of Congress for a Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 19 July 2023. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
US President Joe Biden (C), alongside Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) and Biden's wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (C-R), hosts members of Congress for a Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 19 July 2023. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
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US Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Codify Sanctions on Iran’s Missile Program

US President Joe Biden (C), alongside Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) and Biden's wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (C-R), hosts members of Congress for a Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 19 July 2023. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO
US President Joe Biden (C), alongside Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) and Biden's wife, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden (C-R), hosts members of Congress for a Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 19 July 2023. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

US Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Bill Hagerty have introduced the MISSILES Act, a bipartisan bill to impose US sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program.

This move came as Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in his address to Congress that Iran “spreads hatred, danger, and terror in the Middle East and publicly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

The looming October 2023 sunset of key UN Security Council restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missiles and drones – including potential transfers to Russia for use against Ukraine – “underscores the need for this urgent legislation,” Menendez and Hagerty said Wednesday.

This bill codifies sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program under Annex B of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. It ensures that Iran’s destabilizing development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology remains subject to appropriate US sanctions in the likely event that Russia and China block an extension of UN restrictions in the Security Council.

“Iran will not stop developing its missile and drone programs, nor will they stop providing this dangerous technology to its proxies and to Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine,” said Menendez.

“It is absolutely vital that our sanctions policy reflect that reality in the event UN restrictions come to an end in October. The United States must continue to disrupt Iran’s proliferation of missiles and UAVs, as well as its supply to proxies and to Russia.”

Menendez called on US allies and partners “to join us in addressing the threats posed by Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

As for Hagerty, he said: “Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime continues to violate with impunity the UN Security Council’s international prohibitions on the export of missiles, drones, and other destabilizing weapons to foreign actors.”

“This bipartisan legislation imposes far-reaching sanctions against any foreign individual, entity, or government that is engaged in activities related to Iran’s missiles, drones, and other destabilizing weapons—even if the UN Security Council’s international prohibitions are irresponsibly allowed to sunset in October 2023,” he added.

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World

At Least 63 People Killed in a Crash of Buses and Other Vehicles in Western Uganda 

A bus involved in a highway collision that left dozens dead near Gulu, northern Uganda, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP)
A bus involved in a highway collision that left dozens dead near Gulu, northern Uganda, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP)
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At Least 63 People Killed in a Crash of Buses and Other Vehicles in Western Uganda 

A bus involved in a highway collision that left dozens dead near Gulu, northern Uganda, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP)
A bus involved in a highway collision that left dozens dead near Gulu, northern Uganda, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP)

Two buses and two other vehicles crashed early Wednesday on a highway in western Uganda, killing at least 63 people, police said, in one of the worst motor accidents in the East African country in recent years.

Several other people were injured in the crash that happened after midnight local time on the highway to Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.

Two bus drivers going in opposite directions attempted to overtake other vehicles and collided near the town of Kiryandongo, according to police.

“In the process, both buses met head-on during the overtaking maneuvers,” the police statement said.

Fatal road crashes are common in Uganda and elsewhere in East Africa, where roads are often narrow. Police usually blame such accidents on speeding drivers. In August, a bus carrying mourners back home from a funeral in southwestern Kenya overturned and plunged into a ditch, killing at least 25 people and injuring several others.

The death toll in the latest crash in Uganda is uncommonly high, said Irene Nakasiita, a Red Cross spokeswoman who described victims left bleeding with broken limbs. She said the images from the scene were too gruesome to share.

“The magnitude of this incident is so big,” Nakasiita said.

While accident victims can expect to get help from onlookers and other first responders who rush to crash sites, “at night even bystanders are not there,” she said.

Most of the injured people are receiving treatment at a government hospital nearby.

In Uganda, 5,144 people were killed in road crashes in 2024. That number rose from 4,806 in 2023 and 4,534 in 2022, according to official police figures, which show a worrisome rise in the total number of those killed or injured in road crashes in recent years.

Careless overtaking and speeding accounted for 44.5% of all crashes documented in 2024, the police's latest crime report said.

“As investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to exercise maximum caution on the roads, especially avoiding dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of crashes in the country,” the police said in their statement after the latest crash.

World

NATO Says Russian Incursions Deterred but Hybrid Threats Persist 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Alexus G. Grynkewich attend the NATO Ministers of Defense meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 15 October 2025. (EPA) 
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Alexus G. Grynkewich attend the NATO Ministers of Defense meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 15 October 2025. (EPA) 
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NATO Says Russian Incursions Deterred but Hybrid Threats Persist 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Alexus G. Grynkewich attend the NATO Ministers of Defense meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 15 October 2025. (EPA) 
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Alexus G. Grynkewich attend the NATO Ministers of Defense meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 15 October 2025. (EPA) 

Russia appears to have been deterred by NATO's firm response last month to incursions into Polish and Estonian airspace, but Moscow is expected to continue testing boundaries, the US general serving as NATO's top commander said on Tuesday.

Three Russian military jets violated Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes on September 19. NATO scrambled fighters and escorted them out, and Washington vowed to "defend every inch of NATO territory."

Nine days earlier, more than 20 Russian drones had entered Polish airspace. NATO jets shot some of them down, the first time an alliance member had fired on Russian targets since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Alexus Grynkewich, a US Air Force general serving as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that NATO's responses had sent a message to Moscow.

INDICATIONS RUSSIANS ARE 'TRYING TO BE MORE CAREFUL'

"We do see indications that the Russians are trying to be more careful, that they recognize that they came close to or crossed a line in a couple of cases, particularly when you consider the drone event in Poland," he said.

"We'll have a deterrent effect, but they're going to continue to try to move and take hybrid approaches to how they challenge the alliance."

In the Estonian incident, Russia's Defense Ministry denied the jets violated Estonian airspace, saying they flew over neutral waters. In the Polish incident, Moscow said its drones were engaged in strikes in Ukraine and had not targeted Poland.

After the jets left Estonian airspace "they went very wide and around Estonia," Grynkewich said. "So, to me, that shows that they understood that we would respond, that we're able to respond, and that they did not want to have the situation repeat itself."

With major Russian drone and missile attacks targeting Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure ahead of winter, Grynkewich said that the US will continue to supply Patriot missile capabilities "at the rate that meets the Ukrainian needs".

NATO WORKING ON COUNTER-DRONE DETERRENCE

European powers believe Russia was likely involved in a wave of drone incursions in recent weeks, including some that led to severe disruptions at airports in Denmark and Norway. Drones were also spotted over Danish North Sea oilfields in September and disrupted Dutch military exercises in Poland.

Since the first incursions of Russian drones into Poland on September 9, northern European NATO member states have registered at least another 38 incidents spanning Scandinavia, Belgium, and the Baltic states, according to the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis.

Russia has repeatedly denied links to these incidents.

Dutch Chief of Defense General Onno Eichelsheim said that NATO will respond to Russian incursions into its territory whether intentional or accidental, and that the alliance is working with Ukraine to counter them.

"The good thing is they (Ukrainians) produce a lot of counter-drone capabilities themselves. So what we have to do is give them the money to produce more," Eichelsheim said after meetings with Grynkewich. "That's one thing we should do in the coming period to provide them with more counter-drone capabilities."

The comments followed a European Commission proposal last week for four flagship European defense projects, including a counter-drone system and a plan to fortify the eastern border, as part of a drive to get the continent ready to defend itself by 2030.

The defense policy "roadmap" reflects fears fueled by the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, that Russia may attack an EU member in the coming years, and calls by US President Donald Trump for Europe to do more for its own security.

World

Man Taken into Custody After Driving His Car into Security Gate Outside White House 

20 October 2025, US, Washington: A general view of the White House during sunrise in Washington. (dpa)
20 October 2025, US, Washington: A general view of the White House during sunrise in Washington. (dpa)
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Man Taken into Custody After Driving His Car into Security Gate Outside White House 

20 October 2025, US, Washington: A general view of the White House during sunrise in Washington. (dpa)
20 October 2025, US, Washington: A general view of the White House during sunrise in Washington. (dpa)

A man was taken into custody late Tuesday after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House, authorities said.

The US Secret Service said the man crashed into the security gate at a White House entrance at 10:37 pm on Tuesday. The man was immediately arrested by officers from the Secret Service’s uniformed division, the agency said.

Investigators searched his car and deemed it to be safe, Secret Service officials said in a statement.

Authorities did not immediately provide any additional information about the crash, the driver’s identity or any potential motivation.