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Trump Says His Plane Faced ‘Greater Risk’ in Secret Flight Change

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, August 11, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, August 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Says His Plane Faced ‘Greater Risk’ in Secret Flight Change

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, August 11, 2026. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media after disembarking Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, August 11, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he secretly switched planes in Türkiye last month at the direction of the US Secret Service, but that the plane he ultimately flew on was still more vulnerable than Air Force One.

Following a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump was transferred from Air Force One to a military plane via a catering truck in an extraordinary deception prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, US media reported.

The White ‌House did not ‌disclose the change and it remained a secret until ‌the ⁠Washington Post first ⁠reported it on Monday.

Some media commentators questioned whether the operation left Trump's aides and journalists traveling with him at risk aboard the plane presumed to be carrying the president.

"I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to ⁠go for."

After a day of social media memes portraying ‌Trump as hiding out in the catering ‌truck, the image-conscious president, who often promotes memes of himself as a bold and courageous ‌leader, said he was following the direction of the Secret Service, the agency ‌that protects the president.

"Well, it's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do, so I go by Secret Service and the military," Trump said.

"I guess there was a threat out there. I didn't really ask too much about ‌it. I get a lot of threats," Trump said.

The White House said at the time that the ⁠president was flying aboard ⁠Air Force One from Türkiye to Britain. But moments after Trump boarded the plane, he left it in secret via the catering truck and boarded another aircraft for the flight to Britain, the Post said on Monday, quoting unnamed sources.

Trump had taken a newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara for the NATO summit but unexpectedly announced he would use an older Air Force One when departing the country, a move that prompted questions about the newer plane.

The trip to NATO was the first international travel for the new plane and took place as hostilities escalated with Iran, which borders Türkiye.

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World

Police in Eastern German State Defuse 21 Explosive Devices Found Near Power Grid

A burned vehicle sits at a construction site on the ground of a substation, as police is investigating a fire at the transformer substation, further raising security concerns over a series of sabotage attacks on Germany's power grid, in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026. Sign reads "No entry to the construction site". (Reuters)
A burned vehicle sits at a construction site on the ground of a substation, as police is investigating a fire at the transformer substation, further raising security concerns over a series of sabotage attacks on Germany's power grid, in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026. Sign reads "No entry to the construction site". (Reuters)
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Police in Eastern German State Defuse 21 Explosive Devices Found Near Power Grid

A burned vehicle sits at a construction site on the ground of a substation, as police is investigating a fire at the transformer substation, further raising security concerns over a series of sabotage attacks on Germany's power grid, in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026. Sign reads "No entry to the construction site". (Reuters)
A burned vehicle sits at a construction site on the ground of a substation, as police is investigating a fire at the transformer substation, further raising security concerns over a series of sabotage attacks on Germany's power grid, in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026. Sign reads "No entry to the construction site". (Reuters)

Prosecutors in the eastern German state of Saxony said on Monday that authorities had found a total of 21 explosive devices as part of their investigations into attacks on the electricity grid that have kept authorities on high alert for days.

Investigators discovered nine additional homemade explosive devices over the weekend near high-voltage power ‌lines south ‌of the Graustein substation in the ‌eastern ⁠German district of Goerlitz, ⁠taking the total number discovered to 21, police and prosecutors said in a joint statement.

Germany has been the focus of European fears about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, as it experienced a series of sabotage incidents ⁠on the power grid last week ‌after a drone attack ‌in August at Leipzig/Halle for which the ‌government formally blamed Russia.

German police said on Friday ‌they were searching for a man who sent letters claiming responsibility for a series of sabotage attacks on the power grid last week after ‌they found what appeared to be explosives at his home. The man ⁠is ⁠still at large.

Initial findings into a fire at a transformer substation in Berlin earlier on Monday, which police had said was being investigated, showed the incident was caused by a technical fault, Spiegel reported citing Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik Meisel.

Separately, Bild newspaper reported that police in the western city of Wesel have launched major assessment operations after the security fence around another transformer substation was found to be cut open.

World

Kremlin Says It Does Not Rule Out Restart of Peace Talks with Ukraine and US

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
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Kremlin Says It Does Not Rule Out Restart of Peace Talks with Ukraine and US

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on September 6, 2026, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (R) and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) arrive for talks with Ukrainian president in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / Ukrainian Presidential Press Service /AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that it did not rule out the resumption of peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States, but said it was too early to say when and where such talks might take place. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments when asked about a weekend visit to Moscow and Kyiv by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared ‌Kushner who ‌are trying to breathe new ‌life into ⁠stalled talks designed ⁠to find a way to end the war in Ukraine. 

"As for the resumption of the trilateral format, you heard the statement from Kyiv yesterday. Mr. Kushner made such statements. We, too, do not rule out the resumption of this trilateral format, but ⁠it is still too early to ‌speak of the venue ‌and exact dates,” Peskov told reporters when asked if three-way ‌peace talks would resume. 

Peskov, who declined to ‌discuss in detail the content of the latest US peace proposals or what the hardest outstanding issues to solve are, said the Kremlin did not rule out ‌a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to ⁠discuss ⁠the US envoys' trip. 

"Undoubtedly, any attempts...represent a small step towards peace, and we truly hold the peace-building efforts of the American negotiators in very high regard," Peskov told reporters. "President Putin himself has said that he holds President Trump’s efforts in high regard, and that he is grateful to President Trump for his commitment to this path towards peace.” 

Moscow had not yet received any information about contacts between the US envoys and Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday, Peskov said. 

World

Majority of Spaniards Unhappy with Government's Handling of Ceuta Crisis, Poll Shows

Migrants rest along a street in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, 04 September 2026. EPA/LAURA RINCON
Migrants rest along a street in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, 04 September 2026. EPA/LAURA RINCON
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Majority of Spaniards Unhappy with Government's Handling of Ceuta Crisis, Poll Shows

Migrants rest along a street in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, 04 September 2026. EPA/LAURA RINCON
Migrants rest along a street in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, 04 September 2026. EPA/LAURA RINCON

Nearly nine in ‌10 Spaniards blame Morocco for the mass migrant crossings into Ceuta in late July, while a majority rate Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's handling of the crisis as "bad" or "very bad", according to an opinion poll released on Monday that also showed a drop in support for Sanchez's party, Reuters said.

The 40dB poll of 2,000 people for El Pais newspaper and radio station SER also recorded an increase in voting ‌intentions for the ‌conservatives and the anti-immigration, far-right Vox party, ‌in ⁠line with several ⁠other polls conducted after the deadly border surge into Spain's North African enclave.

* For 89% of respondents, Morocco bore the most responsibility for the crisis, followed by human-trafficking groups (75%), the spread of disinformation on social media (74%), the migrants who decided ⁠to cross (73%) and the Spanish government (72%), the ‌40dB poll found.

* Only ‌14.2% rated Sanchez's handling of the crisis positively, with ‌two-thirds of those surveyed saying his response was too ‌slow.

* The combined voting intentions for the conservative People's Party and Vox hit 50.2%, leading their potential right-wing alliance to breach the 50% mark for the first ‌time in an opinion poll during this legislature. The center-left bloc fell to 36.1%.

* ⁠The ⁠PP rose to 32.4%, from 32% in the previous 40dB poll in July, and Vox to 17.8% from 17.2%, while Sanchez's Socialist Party dipped to 27.6% from 28%.

* About 27% of respondents named Vox as the most capable party on the issue of immigration, ahead of the Socialists at 18.4% and the PP at 13.9%.

* Seven out of 10 chose tighter border controls over protecting vulnerable migrants and 82% backed increasing fences and surveillance at Spain's borders.