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China’s Newest Aircraft Carrier Sails Through Taiwan Strait into South China Sea 

This handout photo taken by Japan's Ministry of Defense on September 11, 2025 and received via Jiji Press on September 12, 2025 shows China's third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailing in the East China Sea. (AFP / Japan's Ministry of Defense via Jiji Press) 
This handout photo taken by Japan's Ministry of Defense on September 11, 2025 and received via Jiji Press on September 12, 2025 shows China's third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailing in the East China Sea. (AFP / Japan's Ministry of Defense via Jiji Press) 
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China’s Newest Aircraft Carrier Sails Through Taiwan Strait into South China Sea 

This handout photo taken by Japan's Ministry of Defense on September 11, 2025 and received via Jiji Press on September 12, 2025 shows China's third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailing in the East China Sea. (AFP / Japan's Ministry of Defense via Jiji Press) 
This handout photo taken by Japan's Ministry of Defense on September 11, 2025 and received via Jiji Press on September 12, 2025 shows China's third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailing in the East China Sea. (AFP / Japan's Ministry of Defense via Jiji Press) 

China's most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, recently sailed through the Taiwan Strait and into the South China Sea - both very sensitive waterways - as part of its sea trials.

The Chinese navy said in a statement on Friday that the journey was made to conduct scientific research trials and training missions. First unveiled in 2022, the country's third aircraft carrier began sea trials last year and has yet to formally enter service.

"This cross-regional trial and training exercise for the Fujian is a routine arrangement in the carrier's construction process and is not directed at any specific target," it added.

The sailing comes as US Marines and Japanese counterparts stage a fortnight of exercises on the nearby island of Okinawa with the Typhon missile system and other advanced anti-ship weapons. The exercises are due to run until September 25.

Japan's defense ministry said late on Thursday that the Fujian had entered the East China Sea, sailing southwest toward Taiwan, accompanied by two Chinese missile destroyers.

Taiwan's defense ministry said it has been monitoring the situation with joint intelligence surveillance and has taken appropriate measures.

China has, over the past five years or so, stepped up its military presence around Taiwan, including staging war games, to assert its sovereignty claims.

Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty, saying only the island's people can decide their future.

China considers the Taiwan Strait to be its territorial waters. Taiwan, the United States and many of its allies say it is an international waterway.

The South China Sea has been another site of increased Chinese military activity. China claims most of the sea - claims that are contested by many countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Fujian, designed and built domestically, is larger and more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in late 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second-hand from Ukraine in 1998.

With a flat deck and electro-magnetic catapults to launch aircraft, the Fujian is expected to host a larger and wider range of planes than the other two carriers - including early-warning aircraft and, eventually, China's first carrier-capable stealth jet fighters.

Regional security analysts and military attaches are watching the Fujian's trials closely, in part to see how effectively China's navy can coordinate full-blown carrier operations with escort ships and submarines.

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World

Russian Strikes kill 11, Including 3 Children

Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
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Russian Strikes kill 11, Including 3 Children

Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)
Local residents stand amid the rubble of a five-story residential building following a Russian attack that killed seven people, including three children, in Zaporizhzhia on October 10, 2026. (Photo by Daria Nazarova / AFP)

Russian strikes on Ukraine's southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday killed at least 11 people, including three children, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian national police said Russia had targeted residential neighborhoods in the city with "five guided aerial bombs" early Saturday morning, hitting two residential buildings.

The strikes came a day after Ukrainian and European officials met in Miami in a renewed diplomatic push to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

"The toll from the air strikes on Zaporizhzhia continues to rise. At present, 11 civilians have been killed. Among them are three children," said Mykhailo Semikin, head of Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.

He said rescuers were continuing their search for people under the rubble.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw people being pulled from the rubble by Ukrainian emergency services.

"We saw people under the rubble -- a woman, her husband and a child," one volunteer rescuer, Daniil Pishkin, told AFP.

He added that he saw two people rescued from the wreckage but "unfortunately there was a little girl who died.”

A resident of one of the buildings that was hit, who identified herself as Iryna, 69, said she just had time to seek refuge in the toilets after receiving an air raid warning.

She said her two neighbors were killed.

"They were 75 years old. They were simply thrown out there, onto the street. They didn't make it to the hospital," she told AFP.

The Zaporizhzhia region, located just a few dozen kilometers from the front line, and its capital by the same name have been the target of frequent strikes.

Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian territory in recent months, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

Diplomatic efforts mediated by the United States to end the war more than four years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine have so far yielded no results.

World

OpenAI Disrupts 2 Influence Operations Linked to Russia and Iran

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
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OpenAI Disrupts 2 Influence Operations Linked to Russia and Iran

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo

OpenAI on Thursday said it shut down two influence operations -- from Russia and Iran -- that used ChatGPT to push fake journalist personas and run a “think-tank” to covertly peddle anti-Ukraine propaganda.

The American AI giant said it banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that originated in Russia and Iran and were used to support “false front” entities for geopolitical and conflict-related messaging, according to AFP.

The Iranian operation involved seven “journalist” profiles, each purporting to be from Western countries including the United States, that were used to plant long-form articles in media outlets around the world.

“We identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under the operation's bylines across roughly a dozen online outlets around the world,” OpenAI said.

“These were small to medium outlets, generally focused on international affairs, geopolitics, and events in the Middle East.”

The earliest article identified by OpenAI was published in July 2025, and the latest in October 2026, with the frequency of reports increasing after the US-Iran war broke out earlier this year.
The operation also generated social media comments on topics related to the US-Iran war, it added.

One of the personas named Ervin B Hoskins, whose bio claimed to be “an American freelance writer,” had social media accounts across tech platforms including Elon Musk's X and Meta-owned Instagram.

X's transparency information showed the account was connected via a “West Asia android app” and Instagram's transparency information showed the account was based in Iran, according to screenshots provided by OpenAI.

Both accounts appeared to be suspended.

The Russian operation co-opted “unwitting people” in Latin America to run a “think-tank” -- called the Social Research Center (SRC) -- used for covert activities aimed at undermining Ukraine's reputation in the region and to influence local politics, the company said.

“The available evidence indicates that the SRC's employees in Latin America were not aware that they were working for a Russian group,” OpenAI said.

The SRC appears to have produced a majority of original content via its co-opted staff. “This stands out as the most complex attempt to run a front identity that we've disrupted over the past two and a half years,” it added.

World

Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Iran Guards Say Struck Tanker Transiting Strait of Hormuz

An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
An aerial view shows ships anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman's Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that they had struck a tanker attempting to take an “illegal route” through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has sought to blockade since the outset of the Middle East war.

Maritime trackers also reported on Friday that an unknown projectile sparked a fire aboard a ship off the UAE coast, but named a different vessel.

In a statement carried by official media, the Guards said its naval forces were acting in accordance with “the orders of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the Iranian people’s desire to exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“In carrying out this mission, a few hours ago, a giant LPG carrier named NV Sunshine, owned by NatWit, which was attempting to transit via the illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz, was struck,” they added, according to AFP.

Iran has attempted to impose its control over the Hormuz over the course of the war, insisting that vessels seek its permission to cross via its preferred routes.

However, ships have increasingly been willing to risk transiting via an alternative route hugging the strait's southern coast.

Britain's UKMTO maritime agency said on Friday that a ship 13 nautical miles (24 kilometers) off the UAE's Al Jazeera Al Hamra, southwest of the strait, was struck by a projectile, which caused a fire on board.

“Status of the crew, damage assessment and environmental impact are unknown at present. Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said in a statement.

British security firm Vanguard also reported the incident, and identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged crude tanker GEM NO2.

The incident comes days after a tanker was hit off Qatar, around 500 kilometers west of the vital strait.

Ships in the Gulf and those attempting to transit the strait -- the only maritime route in or out of the oil-rich region -- have come under repeated attack since the US and Israel sparked the Middle East war on February 28.

Iran has blockaded the strait ever since, though some vessels do manage to cross, and US media has reported on American military efforts to protect ships on the southern route.

The United States has set up its own counter-blockade of Iranian ports and occasionally fires on vessels linked to Tehran.

Hormuz is vital to the world economy, with around a fifth of the planet's oil and liquefied natural gas passing through the strait before the war began.