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Russia Shoots Down Two Ukrainian Drones Near Moscow 

A view of the damaged skyscraper in the "Moscow City" business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday, July 30, 2023. (AP)
A view of the damaged skyscraper in the "Moscow City" business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday, July 30, 2023. (AP)
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Russia Shoots Down Two Ukrainian Drones Near Moscow 

A view of the damaged skyscraper in the "Moscow City" business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday, July 30, 2023. (AP)
A view of the damaged skyscraper in the "Moscow City" business district after a reported drone attack in Moscow, Russia, early Sunday, July 30, 2023. (AP)

Russian air defenses shot down two drones aimed at Moscow overnight, officials said Wednesday, in what they described as Ukraine’s latest attempt to strike the Russian capital in an apparent campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the war to Russia. 

The drones were intercepted on their approach to Moscow and there were no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The Russian Defense Ministry described it as a “terrorist attack.” 

One of the drones came down in the Domodedovo region south of Moscow and the other fell near the Minsk highway, west of the city, according to Sobyanin. Domodedovo airport is one of Moscow’s busiest. 

It was not clear where the drones were launched from, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. 

Flights were halted at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on July 30 and Aug. 1, when drones smashed into the Moscow City business district after being jammed by air defenses in two separate incidents. 

In May, Russian authorities accused Ukraine of attempting to attack the Kremlin with two drones in an effort to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. 

Recent drone attacks have aimed at targets from the Russian capital to the Crimean Peninsula. 

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World

Pakistan Says 11 Citizens, 20 Iranian Nationals Being Repatriated from Vessels Seized by US

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Pakistan Says 11 Citizens, 20 Iranian Nationals Being Repatriated from Vessels Seized by US

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 15, 2026. (Reuters)

Pakistan is repatriating 11 of its nationals and 20 Iranians from vessels seized in the high seas by the US, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday.

They were repatriated through Singapore to ‌Bangkok en ‌route to Pakistan's capital Islamabad ‌on ⁠Friday night, Dar ⁠added in an X post, with the Iranians due to continue to their homeland.

"All individuals are in good health and high spirits," the Pakistani minister ⁠said.

It was not immediately ‌clear which ‌vessels they had been on.

The US-Israeli ‌war on Iran, which began ‌in February, was suspended last month after a fragile ceasefire but Washington and Tehran have engaged in naval ‌confrontations and seizures of each other's vessels as they struggle ⁠to ⁠reach a peace pact.

Pakistan has been mediating between the US and Iran.

Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles about one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil and gas supply, to most shipping after the war began.

World

FBI Offers $200,000 Reward to Catch Ex-Air Force Specialist Wanted on Espionage Charges in Iran

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
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FBI Offers $200,000 Reward to Catch Ex-Air Force Specialist Wanted on Espionage Charges in Iran

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)

The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to capture and prosecution of a former US Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran in 2013 and was later charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government.

Monica Elfriede Witt, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran. She remains at large.

Witt “allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities,” Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, said in a news release Wednesday.

“The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts.”

It wasn't immediately known why the FBI was bringing attention to Witt's case. The United States and Iran have been at war since Feb. 28.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defense Department contractor.

The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

Before that, Witt had been warned by the FBI about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Witt placed at risk "sensitive and classified US national defense information and programs,” the news release said.

“Witt allegedly intentionally provided information endangering US personnel and their families stationed abroad. She also allegedly conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime to allow them to target her former colleagues in the US government,” it said.

World

South Korea to Investigate Ship Debris from Hormuz Attack

This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
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South Korea to Investigate Ship Debris from Hormuz Attack

This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This undated handout photograph released by South Korea's Foreign Ministry on May 10, 2026, shows a damaged part of the South Korean cargo ship HMM Namu docked at a port in Dubai. (Handout / South Korean Foreign Ministry / AFP)

Debris from a fire-damaged cargo ship said to have been attacked by unidentified aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz arrived in South Korea on Friday for investigation, the foreign ministry said.

Iran has largely blocked shipping through the vital strait since conflict broke out with the United States and Israel on February 28 and Washington blockaded Tehran's ports.

HMM Namu was struck by "two unidentified aircraft" on May 4, hitting the outer plate of the vessel's port-side ballast tank near the stern and causing a fire in the engine room, Seoul, a US ally, said at a press briefing on Sunday.

The Panama-flagged cargo vessel, operated by South Korean shipping firm HMM Co., had arrived in Dubai last week for investigation.

Its debris "arrived in South Korea by air following consultations with the UAE government" on Friday, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The vessel debris is "scheduled to undergo detailed analysis by a specialized institution", it added without providing further detail.

Seoul said the aircraft involved in the attack "were captured on CCTV footage, but there are limitations in identifying the exact type, launch origin and physical size of the objects".

A senior government official told local media this week that the "likelihood that the (attacking) entity was someone other than Iran is low."

Tehran has denied responsibility, with its embassy in Seoul posting a statement on its website in the days following the attack, saying it "firmly rejects and categorically denies any allegations regarding the involvement" of its forces.

Seoul strongly condemned the attack and said it hopes to identify those behind it through a thorough investigation.

South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, relies heavily on Middle Eastern fuel imports, most of which transited through the Strait of Hormuz during peacetime.

As a major petrochemicals producer and refiner, the closure has forced South Korea to impose a fuel price cap for the first time in nearly 30 years.