Turkey plans to step up its military support for Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks by deploying additional personnel and defence equipment amid escalating Houthi attacks on the kingdom, several Turkish officials told Middle East Eye on Tuesday.

In a joint statement on Monday, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia said they had decided to immediately implement their collective defence commitments under the Makkah Alliance for Defence and provide "the agreed military forces and capabilities to ensure their rapid deployment" to the kingdom.

Two Turkish officials familiar with Ankara's plans told MEE that Turkey had maintained technical teams, air defence systems and electronic warfare equipment in the kingdom since last year to protect critical infrastructure, including energy facilities.

https://archive.ph/VXiu6

Prosecutors in Egypt have charged six journalists working for the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, according to their lawyer.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since he led the military's overthrow of his predecessor, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained, mainly Muslim Brotherhood officials and supporters but also leading secular and liberal activists, media workers and academics.

Matsda2sh, whose name means "Do Not Believe" in Arabic, was founded in 2018 to "resist the flow of false or misleading news", according to its website.

It regularly fact-checks statements made by Egyptian officials and carries out investigative reporting in Egypt and other Arab countries.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/53655154

4 October 2026

Israeli embassies in the United States and the United Kingdom are promoting a copycat NAZA, nearly a month after the release of the original that focuses on testimony of Israelis killing Palestinians in Gaza.

In posts on X, the embassies said that "Naza: The Real Story" is "setting the record straight" and claims to offer a firsthand account from senior Israeli military commanders and intelligence officers directly involved in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

It said the film uses combat footage, declassified materials, captured intelligence and firsthand testimony to give context on "how the war was fought and the challenges Israeli forces faced".

source

Flávio Bolsonaro is in pole position to win Brazil’s presidential election, after a far-right tsunami propelled him to a shock first-round victory over the incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leaving progressive voters reeling.

The 45-year-old rightwing candidate received 56.1m votes to Lula’s 53.8m – 47.03% to 45.16% – meaning the 80-year-old leftwinger has a mountain to climb if he is to bounce back in the second round on 25 October. Never, since the return of democracy to Brazil in 1985, has the first-round runner-up managed to turn the game around and win the second ballot.

“Miracles are possible in politics. But I don’t see that happening,” the political scientist Miguel Lago said of Lula’s chances of snapping back. “I don’t see Flávio losing this election now.”

Speaking outside the White House on Monday, Donald Trump told reporters: “Well, it’s a big victory: close but a very, very big victory. Amazing, actually.”

Trump, who is a longtime ally of the Bolsonaro family, predicted the runoff would be “a very close election”

The UK has threatened to expel one Israeli diplomat for every British diplomat forced to leave Israel as a result of Israel’s decision to close the UK consulate in East Jerusalem later this week.

This could mean as many as 27 Israeli diplomats being expelled from the UK, a step that would arguably mark the lowest point in British-Israeli diplomatic relations since the formation of the state of Israel.

The mass expulsion threat – more reminiscent of British-Russian diplomatic relations – was first reported by the Israeli newspaper Ynet, citing a message sent to Israeli officials. The UK Foreign Office said it would not comment on speculation, rather than denying the report outright.

Israel has threatened to close the UK consulate in East Jerusalem in protest at the UK decision to ban trade in goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and to impose sanctions on British firms that aid, support or facilitate the construction of further illegal settlements.

Brussels would “significantly limit” Ukraine’s access to the EU’s agricultural markets and lucrative farming subsidies if Kyiv became a member of the bloc, according to new proposals for EU enlargement.

The restrictions, which are included in an internal EU Commission document seen by the FT, are designed to ease fears among existing members of being swamped by Ukraine’s vast output of cereal grains and oilseed products.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the EU’s previously moribund enlargement process, with Kyiv’s prospective membership emerging as a lightning rod for debates over whether the bloc’s policies and procedures can integrate new members.

The European Commission intends to grant Ukraine only limited access to the bloc’s food markets and its farming subsidies worth €55bn a year, under a reformed accession process, in a sop to concerned countries including Poland, France and Italy.

The proposals also seek to bind financial benefits of EU membership to legal and financial reforms by accession countries and make it easier to strip rule-breaking members of their voting rights. They are being debated by senior Commission officials this week ahead of intended adoption on Tuesday.

“For Ukraine, the scale and structure of the agricultural sector . . . and the very high levels of productivity warrant the examination of targeted arrangements that would significantly limit financial support and market access for products such as wheat and grain,” the Commission said in the internal document.

In exchange, Brussels will “[support] Ukraine in regaining access to its historic export markets,” referring to Kyiv’s global shipments that have been severely disrupted by Russia’s war.

The document identifies Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania as the countries that are currently “most advanced” in their candidatures for EU membership. Those four will be provided with tailored accession plans — referred to as “road maps” — that do not commit to fixed entry dates but should streamline their progress.

However, the geopolitical pressure to speed up enlargement created by Russia’s war in Ukraine has led some EU capitals to worry that Brussels could cut corners on its rule of law and anti-corruption standards for new members. A spate of Ukrainian corruption scandals has heightened concerns that Kyiv is not as far advanced as the pro-enlargement rhetoric may suggest.

The Ukrainian prime minister’s office and foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos told the FT last year that Brussels needed new rules to ensure there would be no “Trojan horses” joining the bloc.

The Commission’s reform proposals include financial and legislative penalties to “ensure continued fulfilment of commitments undertaken during accession negotiations and provide targeted remedies where serious shortcomings risk undermining the proper functioning of the Union,” according to the document.

“Objective-based financing instruments” would link access to EU cash to reform progress, while “after accession, the Union’s full rule of law toolbox will be deployed to ensure continued compliance”, it continues.

In addition to the threat of losing access to EU budget funds, the Commission also proposes reforming its mechanism to strip members of voting powers — known as the ‘Article 7’ procedure — to make it easier to deploy and ensure a “more timely and efficient” response to breaches.

A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the document.

October 4, 2026

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/53596199

Oct. 4, 2026

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro have wrapped up their election campaigns, each voicing confidence in victory ahead of Sunday’s tightly contested first-round presidential vote.

Lula, 80, closed his re-election bid on Saturday with a march through Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic powerhouse, drawing what his campaign called a record crowd for a closing rally.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to win the elections in the first round,” he told supporters, describing Sunday’s vote as a choice between “democracy and barbarism” and promising to “defeat the far right”.

He has also framed the election as a test of Brazil’s sovereignty, warning against “meddling” by Washington.