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Serbia Crosses ‘Red Line’ as War Criminal Funeral Sparks Outrage

A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
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Serbia Crosses ‘Red Line’ as War Criminal Funeral Sparks Outrage

A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)

Bosnia's foreign minister on Tuesday expelled two Serbian diplomats and accused Belgrade of crossing "every red line" after several of its officials attended a funeral for war criminal Ratko Mladic.

At least six Serbian ministers were among thousands that attended Monday's funeral service which openly praised Mladic, who died last month in The Hague while serving a life sentence for war crimes committed during the Bosnian war.

The scenes in the capital of a European Union candidate country also drew condemnation from outside the Balkans, with EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa labelling the attendance of Serbian officials "deeply regrettable".

"Serbia's path into the European Union requires an unequivocal commitment to fundamental European values and historical truth," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.

Bosnia's foreign minister Elmedin Konakovic said he had ordered the defense envoy and an adviser of Serbia's intelligence service to leave the country.

Earlier he said he would recall Sarajevo's embassy staff from Serbia in an attempt to cut diplomatic ties to the "lowest possible level".

"They crossed every red line with what they did yesterday, the day before, and in the days leading up to the reception," Konakovic told a press conference in Sarajevo.

- 'Lip service' -

Despite Mladic's convictions, Serb nationalists and pro-government media still embrace him as a hero. Mourners wore shirts emblazoned with his face and held banners praising the former general during Monday's event.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who did not attend the funeral, has rejected allegations of glorifying Mladic and insisted that the service was organized by the family, not the state.

But the attendance of ministers, alongside the use of soldiers and a government plane to bring Mladic's body to Belgrade has sparked outrage.

"If this is not state involvement, what is?" Emir Suljagic, the director of the Srebrenica memorial center, said on X.

Mladic was sentenced for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Bosnia's 1990s war -- including his role in the killing of some 8,000 people in Srebrenica.

Suljagic said the statements from Brussels were not enough.

"We have had enough of people paying lip service to the victims while proceeding to shake hands with politicians dreaming of future genocides," he said.

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World

Rubio Orders Visiting Iranian UN Delegation to Leave NYC ahead of Schedule

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 September 2026. EPA/YURI GRIPAS / POOL
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 September 2026. EPA/YURI GRIPAS / POOL
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Rubio Orders Visiting Iranian UN Delegation to Leave NYC ahead of Schedule

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 September 2026. EPA/YURI GRIPAS / POOL
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 September 2026. EPA/YURI GRIPAS / POOL

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iran’s foreign minister and his delegation to the UN General Assembly to leave New York earlier than they had planned, two US officials said Wednesday.

The Trump administration had granted visas, albeit with severe restrictions, to Iran’s president and foreign minister and their delegations to attend the annual meeting of world leaders despite the hostilities between the two countries, The Associated Press said.

While President Masoud Pezeshkian left New York a day after speaking at the United Nations last week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had remained behind ostensibly to participate in indirect talks with the US on opening the Strait of Hormuz, ending the conflict and resuming negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

According to some accounts, Araghchi had planned to stay in New York until Wednesday.

After little progress was made in weekend meetings between Iranian and Qatari mediators, Rubio lost patience and told the Iranians on Monday that Araghchi and his delegation had to leave New York immediately, according to the two officials, who were familiar with the decision and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration process.

Rubio, according to one official, determined that the Iranians had “overstayed their welcome” and that since the high-level meetings at the UN were over, they should leave.

Ararghchi and his team departed New York very early Tuesday.

The Iranian UN delegation on Wednesday denied that they were ordered to leave.

“The Iranian delegation left New York on Monday evening, in accordance with the schedule that had also been communicated to the US Department of State in advance on September 17,” the delegation wrote on its official X account. “Having achieved nothing, the State Department has resorted to propagating baseless and worthless news.”

Rubio’s decision was first reported by Axios.

World

Russia Attacks Ukrainian Energy Grid, Forcing Power Cuts as Winter Looms

Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP)
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Russia Attacks Ukrainian Energy Grid, Forcing Power Cuts as Winter Looms

Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP)

Russia unleashed a widely anticipated air campaign against Ukraine's energy grid on Wednesday, hitting power facilities and infrastructure around Kyiv and other regions in the heaviest combined attack on energy sites in months.

The strikes, in which Ukrainian officials said seven people were killed, followed days of intensifying drone barrages primarily on the capital, a prelude to what many Ukrainians expect to be a winter of attacks intended to plunge cities into cold and darkness when Ukraine is short of air defenses.

Ukraine's state power grid operator Ukrenergo said it had imposed emergency power cuts as a result of the attack in Kyiv and three surrounding regions — the first time such a measure had been imposed in the capital since the spring.

Russian attacks last winter, which brought record-low temperatures, ravaged power and heating systems, ‌forcing Ukrainians to adapt ‌to dire circumstances.

CAPITAL SHROUDED IN SMOKE

Some of the capital's trams and trolley buses ground to ‌a halt ⁠due to the ⁠outages as people headed home from work. Kyiv's water utility said pressure in the water system was reduced.

"Russia has escalated to massive strikes on energy infrastructure," Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said on X after the attacks overnight.

"Since summer, there's barely been a day without an attack on our energy infrastructure. But a combined strike of this scale hasn't happened since the end of last heating season."

Kyiv residents awoke on Wednesday to a city shrouded in fog from the smoke of attacks, which authorities said damaged a key power plant and other energy facilities around the capital.

Ukraine's air force said its air defenses had intercepted 254 of 285 Russian drones deployed until early evening.

It said 174 drones were high-flying ⁠and faster jet-propelled models, which are harder to intercept. Russian forces had also launched a ballistic ‌missile attack.

A child was among the seven dead across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, ‌with critical infrastructure coming under attack in five regions. Further damage was reported in another five regions, he added.

Zelenskiy visited a military command post near ‌the town of Lyman near the eastern frontline and praised what he said were gains against Russian forces during a counteroffensive.

He ‌said Ukrainian forces had recaptured 176 sq. km. (29.3 sq. miles) of territory since the start of the operation.

Russia said its forces had struck power plants in the Kyiv region, an industrial complex in Odesa region, and port infrastructure in Ismail in the southwest.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris had been found at a Western embassy, but offered no further details. The overnight attack triggered a more than 12-hour air-raid alert.

Drone strikes continued in Kyiv into ‌the early evening.

Near-constant daytime sirens and explosions have become a fixture of daily life in Kyiv, where drone attacks have killed around a dozen people over the past week alone.

PM ⁠ORDERS POWER BACKUP CHECKS

Ukrainian Foreign Minister ⁠Andrii Sybiha described Wednesday's attack by Russia as a "deliberate" distraction from its grinding battlefield offensive in eastern Ukraine, which has slowed since last year.

"Moscow is increasing the pressure on Ukrainian civilians as winter approaches, trying once again to turn cold, darkness, and disruption of normal life into weapons," he said on X.

Forecasters say they expect freezing temperatures at night in Kyiv in the coming days.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, denies targeting civilians although it has pounded cities and towns across Ukraine.

Koretskyi, the prime minister, said he had instructed local authorities to check the readiness of backup power systems at critical facilities and speed up installations.

Authorities in recent weeks and months have been building protective facilities and aiming to diversify energy generation before Russia's expected winter campaign.

However, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said there was a critical shortage of urban shelters, describing the civil-defense system as having "completely failed".

DRONES CROSS INTO MOLDOVA

In Moldova, on Ukraine's western border, the defense ministry said three drones had crossed into its airspace over the course of the day.

NATO members Romania and Poland both scrambled military jets, the countries said, and flights at the Polish airports of Lublin and Rzeszow were suspended for a time.

Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on Russia, striking oil refineries and online retailers to undermine its war effort.

World

Pentagon Creates ‘Autowarcom’ to Expand AI and Drone Capabilities

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Quantico, Va. (Alex Wong/Pool Photo via AP)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Quantico, Va. (Alex Wong/Pool Photo via AP)
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Pentagon Creates ‘Autowarcom’ to Expand AI and Drone Capabilities

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Quantico, Va. (Alex Wong/Pool Photo via AP)
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026 in Quantico, Va. (Alex Wong/Pool Photo via AP)

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced the creation of a new military command that would be dedicated to building and providing autonomous and robotic capabilities across the US military.

The command, which Hegseth said would be called "Autonomous Warfare Command," highlights the rapidly changing nature of warfare and the need to make progress on systems like drones and the use of artificial intelligence.

Creating a new command is not common — the last one was US Space Command in 2019 — and the move reflects the Pentagon's push to shift from costly ‌conventional weapons platforms ‌to cheaper, AI-driven autonomous systems that have proved decisive in ‌recent ⁠conflicts.

Speaking in front ⁠of hundreds of junior officers and enlisted personnel at Quantico, Virginia, in a speech peppered with attacks on the media, Hegseth said the command would be led by a four-star officer.

"The pace of war is changing faster than the process to support it," Hegseth said in a speech called the "State of the Force," in which he announced other changes, including the creation of the office of religious affairs.

"Cheap compute, superintelligence, and ⁠advanced commercial manufacturing have enabled the proliferation of low-cost, high-precision strike," ‌Hegseth added.

The US military currently has 11 combatant ‌commands, which are responsible for different parts of the world and specific tasks.

EXPERTS WARN OF ‌AI RISKS

Experts have expressed fears over the potential for unchecked AI development and ‌technology rivalries that could further heighten risks across the global security environment.

Both China and the US — the two major drivers of cutting-edge AI development and its global adoption — have been at loggerheads over AI policies and industry practices. Security experts from both countries have called for ‌guardrails and consensus-building regarding AI in military systems, including nuclear weapons.

The United States has long relied on its vast military budget ⁠to field some ⁠of the world's most expensive weapons systems. But there is an increasing realization within the Pentagon that this is not sustainable.

"Today we need both quality and quantity," Hegseth said.

WAR IN UKRAINE ILLUSTRATES DRONE WARFARE

The technology of war has evolved rapidly in recent years, a shift starkly illustrated by Russia's war in Ukraine.

What began as a conflict dominated by tanks and artillery has increasingly become a drone war.

Outgunned in conventional armor and aircraft, Ukraine turned to inexpensive unmanned systems for reconnaissance and attack. Drones are estimated to account for about 70% of Russian casualties, enabling strikes to be carried out remotely and reducing the risk to pilots and aircrews.

The Pentagon has in recent years made some progress, including the creation of a task force — Joint Interagency Task Force 401 — that is focused on countering drones.