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Russia’s Shoigu Meets North Korea’s Kim in Pyongyang 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting of Russia's President with secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in Saint Petersburg on September 12, 2024. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting of Russia's President with secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in Saint Petersburg on September 12, 2024. (AFP)
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Russia’s Shoigu Meets North Korea’s Kim in Pyongyang 

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting of Russia's President with secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in Saint Petersburg on September 12, 2024. (AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting of Russia's President with secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in Saint Petersburg on September 12, 2024. (AFP)

Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to Pyongyang on Friday, Russian news agencies said.

The visit took place at a critical juncture in the war in Ukraine, for which the United States says North Korea has supplied ammunition and ballistic missiles to Russia.

The US and its allies are weighing a decision on whether to let Ukraine use Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia. President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if that happened, the West would be fighting directly with Russia.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties. Russia has deepened its relations with North Korea since the start of the Ukraine war, and Kim received Putin on a state visit in June.

Shoigu was Russian defense minister until May, and is now secretary of the Security Council which brings together Putin, his military and intelligence chiefs and other senior figures.

"As part of the ongoing strategic dialogue between our countries, a substantive exchange of views took place with Korean colleagues on a wide range of issues on the bilateral and international agenda," state news agency RIA quoted the Security Council as saying.

It said the meetings took place in an "exceptionally trusting, friendly atmosphere" and would make an important contribution to the implementation of agreements reached between Putin and Kim at their summit three months ago.

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World

Iranian Plot to Kill Israel's Ambassador to Mexico Contained, US Official Says

Commanders and members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran August 17, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Commanders and members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran August 17, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iranian Plot to Kill Israel's Ambassador to Mexico Contained, US Official Says

Commanders and members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran August 17, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Commanders and members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran August 17, 2023. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps plotted to assassinate Israel's ambassador to Mexico starting late last year, but the effort was contained and there is no current threat, a US official said on Friday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plot against the ambassador, Einat Kranz Neiger, was active through the first half of this year.

"The plot was contained and does not pose a current threat," the official told Reuters. "This is just the latest in a long history of Iran's global lethal targeting of diplomats, journalists, dissidents, and anyone who disagrees with them, something that should deeply worry every country where there is an Iranian presence."

The official declined to say how the plot was foiled or offer more details about the operation.

The United States and its allies have frequently alleged that Iran and its proxies have sought to launch violent attacks against Tehran's opponents.

Security services in Britain and Sweden warned last year that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out its violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iran-linked plots since 2022.

A dozen other countries have condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping, and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services.

Britain's domestic spy chief, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum, said last month that Iran was "frantically" trying to silence its critics around the world, and cited how Australia had exposed Iranian involvement in antisemitic plots and Dutch authorities had revealed a failed assassination attempt.

World

EU Toughens Visa Rules for Russians

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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EU Toughens Visa Rules for Russians

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman

The European Union has adopted stricter visa rules for Russian nationals in light of what it calls the "weaponization of migration, acts of sabotage and potential misuse of visas".

Russian nationals will no longer be eligible for multiple-entry visas and must apply for a new visa each time they travel to the EU, a statement from the European Commission read. It said the aim was to protect public policy and security, Reuters reported.

There will be limited exceptions for dissidents, independent journalists and human rights defenders.

"Starting a war and expecting to move freely in Europe is hard to justify," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.

"The EU is tightening visa rules for Russian nationals amid continued drone disruptions and sabotage on European soil. Travelling to the EU is a privilege, not a given."

World

German Military Creates Rapid Response Teams to Counter Drone Threats

A sign with a drone ban is displayed outside the airport in Munich, Germany October 6, 2025. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File
A sign with a drone ban is displayed outside the airport in Munich, Germany October 6, 2025. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File
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German Military Creates Rapid Response Teams to Counter Drone Threats

A sign with a drone ban is displayed outside the airport in Munich, Germany October 6, 2025. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File
A sign with a drone ban is displayed outside the airport in Munich, Germany October 6, 2025. REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File

The German military is setting up rapid response teams to counter acute drone threats, a top German military official said, most recently dispatching these experts to assist in Belgium.

"These anti-drone units are being established right now," Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank, who heads Germany's joint operations command and oversees the country's defense planning, told Reuters in an interview.

The German defense ministry said late on Thursday it was sending counter-drone experts to Belgium after a request from the country, which has been struggling with an increase in drone sightings near military installations and civilian airports.

DRONE SIGHTINGS CAUSE HEADACHES ACROSS EUROPE

"An advance party of air force personnel have arrived in Belgium to explore the situation and coordinate a temporary mission involving drone detection and counter-drone capabilities with the Belgian forces," the ministry said in a statement.

"The main party will follow shortly."

Sightings of drones over airports and military bases have become a constant problem in Belgium in recent days and have caused major disruptions across Europe in recent months.

They forced the temporary closures of airports in several countries including Sweden on Thursday.

Some officials have blamed the incidents on "hybrid warfare" by Russia. Moscow has denied any connection with the incidents.

Sollfrank declined to go into detail when talking about the new counter-drone units, citing operational security, but said a team sent to Copenhagen last month during an EU summit had been equipped with a mix of sensors and effectors.

"They have various systems to spot and counter drones. We have the option, for example, to assume control over a drone and land it at a specific location," said the general.

The counter-drone experts also have drones at their disposal that can eject nets to catch drones and thus take them down, as well as interceptors that ram hostile drones, he added.

BELGIUM AIRPORTS LATEST TO SPOT DRONES

Belgium's Liege airport resumed flights after a temporary halt due to a drone sighting on Friday, in the second such incident this week.

Drones spotted flying over airports in the capital, Brussels, and in Liege, in the country's east, forced the diversion of many incoming planes and the grounding of some due to depart on Tuesday.

The Belgian government called an emergency meeting of key government ministers and security chiefs on Thursday to address what the defense minister called a coordinated attack.