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Putin Ally Holds Talks in Iran as Middle East Teeters on Brink of Wider War

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
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Putin Ally Holds Talks in Iran as Middle East Teeters on Brink of Wider War

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)

A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders including the president and top security officials as Iran weighs its response to the killing of a Hamas leader.

Russia has condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, in Iran last week and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.

Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's security council, was shown by Russia's Zvezda television station meeting Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander who serves as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Shoigu, who was Russia's defense minister before being moved to the security council in May, will also meet President Masoud Pezeshkian, Zvezda said.

"In Tehran, the secretary of the Russian Security Council is scheduled to meet with the president, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the head of the General Staff," according to Zvezda TV.

Though Putin has yet to comment in public on the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, senior Russian officials have said that those behind the killing of Haniyeh were seeking to scuttle any hope of peace in the Middle East and to draw the United States into military action.

Iran has blamed Israel and said it will "punish" it; Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility. Iran backs Hamas, which is at war with Israel in Gaza, and also the Lebanese group Hezbollah whose senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week.

Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with Tehran.

Reuters reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles. The United States said in June that Russia appeared to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it was using to strike Ukraine, something Moscow denies.

Russia said last Friday that it joined Iran in condemning the assassination of the Hamas leader and pointing out "the extremely dangerous consequences of such actions". 

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World

Universities Slam Belgian Refusal to Evacuate Gaza Students

Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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Universities Slam Belgian Refusal to Evacuate Gaza Students

Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)
Young Palestinians amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during the war, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, August 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Belgium's top universities condemned on Monday the government's refusal to help 13 students from war-torn Gaza who received scholarships at Belgian universities reach the country.

Brussels set aside plans to evacuate the Palestinian students last week in a case that has split the coalition government.

The rectors of the European country's top 10 universities expressed their "dismay" at the move in a letter, accusing the administration of using the students as "bargaining chips" in a "disgraceful political horse-trading".

Centrist Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has advocated in favor of evacuating the students but has faced opposition from the Flemish conservatives party of Prime Minister Bart De Wever, according to a government source.

Prevot said one member of the five-party coalition demanded concessions on migration, including the creation of deportation centers, in return for greenlighting the evacuations.

"They must not be treated as bargaining chips or as variables to be adjusted in political debates on migration," the rectors wrote of the Gaza students.

"Their cases must be assessed for what they are: those of students and researchers who have been awarded scholarships on the basis of their academic merit and who have all expressed their intention to return to their home countries to contribute to their reconstruction."

The students are among about 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza currently waiting to reach Belgium, having been granted the right to do so, mainly under family reunification rules, according to several NGOs.

Yet, evacuations from the Palestinian territory at war with Israel are proceeding at a trickle, with activists and now the universities accusing the government of deliberately slowing down the process.

"Discussions in recent weeks also show that the obstacles cited do not stem from insurmountable constraints but rather from a lack of political will," the university chiefs wrote.

The case is not isolated, with Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Türkiye, the Netherlands, Germany also reporting delays in recent months.

Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,221 people, according to official Israeli figures.

Israel's offensive has since claimed at least 73,470 lives in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which operates under Hamas.

World

China’s Spy Chief Warns of National Security Risks from AI

People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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China’s Spy Chief Warns of National Security Risks from AI

People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)
People visit the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 18, 2026. (Reuters)

The head of China's spy agency has warned that artificial intelligence endangers the country's national security, with foreign powers potentially using the technology to threaten social order.

"Hostile forces" were abusing generative AI technologies to "fabricate political rumors and spread harmful information", Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article published online on Sunday.

"They launch public opinion wars and cognitive warfare against China, directly threatening our political security, institutional security and ideological security," he said.

The warning comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this month, with AI governance and safety set to be part of their discussions as calls mount for greater oversight of the technology.

US tech leaders have also called for slowing AI advances.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned on Saturday of the "reckless" speed of AI technology development, as worries mount over the risks of superintelligent computer systems.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman said he agreed with Amodei's assessment.

But Chen warned that AI was now "the main battleground for global technological competition and a new track for major power strategic rivalry".

He did not mention existential risks or putting the brakes on technological advances, but singled out Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's ChatGPT-5.5-Cyber for their advanced hacking capabilities that potentially "pose serious risks to China's critical information infrastructure".

"Foreign intelligence agencies are deeply using technologies such as intelligent web crawlers, intelligent data mining, and intelligent profiling analysis to extensively collect and acquire sensitive information such as key national data, trade secrets, and citizens' personal privacy," Chen said.

The US-Iran war has also demonstrated AI's key role in the military, with better technology offering battlefield advantages, he said.

China must "ensure independent control of key core technologies" -- including the advanced computer chips vital to training AI models -- to secure its technology sovereignty, Chen wrote.

World

Boat with Migrants Stranded in Southern Greece with 1 Dead and 20 Missing

File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Boat with Migrants Stranded in Southern Greece with 1 Dead and 20 Missing

File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)
File photo: Migrants of African origin trying to flee to Europe are crammed on board of a small boat, as Tunisian coast guards prepare to transfer them onto their vessel, at sea between Tunisia and Italy, on August 10, 2023. (AFP)

A boat carrying migrants from Libya to the island of Crete took on water and became stranded, leaving at least one dead while 20 are believed to be missing, authorities in Greece said.

The Greek coast guard said 51 people were rescued from the site early Monday, some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of Crete. Patrol boats, a helicopter and a drone as well as commercial vessels were involved in the search assisted by the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, said The Associated Press.

The perilous route across the Mediterranean from eastern Libya to Crete has become one of the busiest into Europe for illegal migration, as their numbers on other routes are broadly lower.