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🇷🇺 Moscow format: A chance for dialogue or just the beginning? This week, the 8th Meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan began in Moscow, bringing together Afghanistan and regional countries to discuss the situation and regional concerns. The news hook was reinforced by Pakistani Minister Awais Leghari's recent visit to Moscow: in an interview with Sputnik, he said Russia can play a unique role in finding a diplomatic solution to the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict and improving regional stability. Russia holds a unique position in this crisis, notes Dr. Shaista Tabassum, former dean and professor of international relations at the University of Karachi: it is the only major power that has recognized the present Taliban government in 2025 while maintaining relations with both Pakistan and Afghanistan. She says the Moscow Format, with around 11 parties, is important for counter-terrorism and for finding a diplomatic solution to Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions. Russia's second interest is stopping drug trafficking from Afghanistan via Central Asia. The Durand Line crisis has also halted the North-South Transport Corridor and the Afghan Railway, so the talks aim to resume regional connectivity. However, she is cautious about a breakthrough: these are only the initial stages of dialogue. Still, she stresses: 💬"At least there is one such platform where both Islamabad and Kabul can sit together, under the mediation of Russia, and can start talking and negotiating with one another, and that is definitely a great move forward." She adds that the conflict directly affects CPEC and BRI, with over 20,000 Chinese nationals involved and CPEC phase II frozen. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Russian scientists uncover protein that may guide personalized cancer treatment Scientists from Russia and Sweden identified sirtuin-3 as a potential biomarker for predicting whether tumor cells will respond to mitochondria-targeting mitocan drugs, the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) told Sputnik. 🔹High sirtuin-3 levels were linked to drug resistance, while cancer cells with low levels of the protein were more easily killed by the mitocan 🔹Researchers tested the effect in lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and neuroblastoma cell lines, comparing tumors with naturally high and low sirtuin-3 levels 🔹When scientists reduced sirtuin-3 in resistant cells, they became sensitive to treatment; increasing the protein in sensitive cells made them more resistant 🔹Sirtuin-3 appears to protect tumor cells from the oxidative stress caused by mitochondrial disruption, helping explain why the same drug works in some tumors but not others The finding should help doctors predict mitocan effectiveness before treatment and design more personalized cancer therapies. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Turkiye, Pakistan prepare rapid military deployment in Saudi Arabia At an emergency meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye moved from political and military consultations to the practical implementation of collective defense commitments under the Mecca Alliance for Defense. 💬 The move is aimed at “enhancing readiness, military integration, and the collective capacity to confront and counter threats,” the joint statement said. The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement is a trilateral collective security pact signed on August 7, 2026 by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan in the city of Mecca. Under its terms, an armed attack on any one of the three signatories is treated as an attack on all. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔸Ukraine stalls on restoring communications in Kiev, wary of unrest  🔸Kremlin: Ukraine attacked Russian civilian economy, so now it's payback time 🔸Zelensky’s attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure are to blame for intensified reciprocal strikes – expert 🔸FlyDubai co-pilot accused in mid-air attack had flown Israel route multiple times  🔸Spanish PM Sanchez calls snap election as parliamentary support unravels 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Trump blames ‘threat’ for rapid B-1 pullout from UK 💬 “We had an idea that there might be a threat. And why would I leave them there? … If we’re going to be threatened, we’ll just move them,” US President Donald Trump told reporters. Trump also claimed that the alleged “threat” was made by people “linked to Iran.” Trump offered no evidence for the Iran connection. The withdrawal followed the security scare near RAF Fairford in which five suspects were detained after suspicious vans were spotted near the base; no explosives were found, and all five were later released on bail. Fairford had been used as a hub for illegal US strikes on Iran. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Trump blames Iran for Flydubai attack 💬 “I do. I personally do,” US President Donald Trump said when asked whether Iran was responsible for the attempted attack aboard a Tel Aviv-bound Flydubai flight. No evidence has been publicly presented to support Trump’s claim. Investigators are still examining the Omani co-pilot’s motive, while Israeli officials have said he may have acted alone. The September 30 flight landed safely in Saudi Arabia after crew and passengers subdued the co-pilot. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸🇱🇹 Trump to ‘look at’ establishing a permanent military base in Lithuania 💬 “They’re friends of mine. They’re great people, so we’ll certainly look at it,” US President Donald Trump told reporters when asked about the possibility. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇾🇪🇸🇦 Yemen warns airlines against using Saudi airspace — reports Yemen’s Sana’a-based authorities have warned international airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, saying it could become a “theater of operations” for Yemeni forces amid the ongoing escalation. The notice was issued by Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center, which said the warning was intended to protect civilian aircraft and passengers as Saudi military operations continue against Yemen. The center said Yemeni armed forces would not target civilian aircraft flying over Mecca and Medina. Mahdi al-Mashat, chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said the current military measures would remain in place until Saudi attacks stop and the blockade is lifted. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇸🇦🇾🇪 Saudi-led coalition strikes Ansar Allah military targets in Hodeidah — spox Saudi-led coalition naval forces struck military targets belonging to Ansar Allah in Yemen’s Hodeidah province, Saudi Gazette reported, citing coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki. The coalition said the operation destroyed weapons depots, storage facilities housing explosive-laden boats and naval mines. Al-Maliki also claimed the strikes thwarted imminent attacks targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea. According to the coalition, the operation was aimed at protecting maritime navigation through the Bab Al-Mandab Strait. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸🚁 US Navy Seahawk drops to zero altitude, vanishes from tracking over Red Sea — reports A US Navy MH-60R Seahawk rapidly lost altitude and disappeared from public flight tracking off Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, according to FlightRadar24 data. At around 5:24 p.m. ET, the helicopter was flying at roughly 137 mph at an altitude of about 300 feet. Eleven minutes later, its displayed altitude had fallen to zero, while its speed dropped to around 11 mph. Two minutes later, the speed reading also reached zero and the transponder signal disappeared. There has been no official confirmation of a crash, and the Pentagon has yet to publicly clarify what happened to the aircraft. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇯🇵🚔 Police arrest US Marine over alleged robbery-murder in Okinawa — reports A 20-year-old US Marine stationed at Futenma has been arrested in Okinawa on suspicion of killing and robbing a local woman, NHK reported. Police allege Devin Jacob Ballard killed 39-year-old Yagi Anna at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet and other belongings. Investigators said she died from suffocation caused by pressure on the neck. Security footage reportedly shows a man resembling Ballard entering the room with the victim and later leaving with items. Japan lodged a formal protest with the US, demanding full cooperation with the investigation and tighter discipline among US military personnel. Around 100 people protested in Naha and Tokyo following the killing, BBC reported, amid longstanding anger over the US military presence in Okinawa. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Trump blasts New York Times over photo of Doral resort US President Donald Trump published a series of overnight Truth Social posts accusing The New York Times of deliberately altering a photo of his Trump National Doral resort in Miami to make it look worse. 💬 “The New York Times DOCTORED the picture of the beautiful exterior facade of Doral, in Miami, trying to make it look as bad as possible,” Trump wrote. He accused the newspaper of publishing “Artificial News,” attacked several of its reporters by name and predicted that The Times would eventually be forced to “close its dirty doors.” Hours later, Trump returned to the subject, calling the newspaper “STONE COLD LOSERS” and “Totally dishonest,” before adding: “That’s why they’re going TO HELL.” 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺💥 Russian Msta-B guns silence Ukrainian drone command posts Msta-B artillery crews of Russia’s Vostok Battlegroup hammered Ukrainian UAV command posts near Kolomiytsy in the Dnepropetrovsk region. The positions were identified by Russian reconnaissance drones before the artillery crews opened fire, disrupting the enemy’s drone-control infrastructure. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺 Russian forces thwart Ukrainian army breakout attempt from Volchansk cauldron Troops from the Ukrainian army’s 475th separate assault regiment tried to push through the ring near the settlement of Kurgannoye. A comprehensive fire strike destroyed more than half of the assault group, Russian security forces said. In early September, units of Russia’s Sever battlegroup surrounded approximately 1,700 Ukrainian servicemen in the area. Over the past day, Russian forces reported eliminating more than 35 Ukrainian troops, one armored combat vehicle, two vehicles, and two ground robotic systems. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the cauldron as covering 460 square kilometers and encompassing 27 settlements. Its elimination, he said, would push the line of contact at least 20 kilometers away from Russia’s Belgorod border region. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🤝🇦🇫 Russia-Afghanistan trade jumps 2.5-fold in first seven months of 2026 Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk met with Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss prospects for cooperation in trade and energy, the Russian government's press service said. Key points: 🔸 Mutual trade between the two countries grew 2.5-fold in the first seven months of 2026 compared to the same period last year 🔸 Talks covered trade, energy, investment, and cooperation on developing the North–South international transport corridor   🔸 The sides agreed to continue intergovernmental dialogue on joint projects and to step up contacts between entrepreneurs from both countries 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺 Russia strikes Parkovy, Ukrtelecom, Giga and Podolsky data centres in major Ukrainian cities - MoD 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Pro-Russian hacker breaches Ukrainian data centers holding army files "In hacking Ukraine's state special communications service, I was able to confirm that a number of major facilities on the country's map turned out to be Ukrainian and Western data centers storing documents, key information and software used by the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry," hacker PalachPro told Sputnik. The targets included: 🔶 Backup systems for document flow and mail servers used by the military department 🔶 The Army+ app 🔶 The Sonata messenger He also said he obtained the coordinates of hidden data centers, including DeNovo, Parkovy, the Giga family, Volla, WNET, TTK and others. 💬 "The data centers had been in the works for a very long time. I worked on them systematically and methodically. It was painstaking, multi-stage work that took considerable time and required extreme attention to detail," the hacker added. He also obtained data on the data centers' internal structure: building and room layouts, floor areas, the number and capacity of server racks, video surveillance camera models, and cooling and fire suppression systems. In recent weeks, Ukrainian data centers have increasingly become targets for Russian strikes. These facilities provide communications, internet and intelligence services to the Ukrainian army. Over the past two weeks, strikes hit data centers belonging to Ukrtelecom, DreamLine, Omega Telecom, Kievstar, Vodafone and Datagroup in Kiev. 📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt