Sept. 25, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1768, the Unification of Nepal.

QOTD: “We are going to send military assets, that is, soldiers, radar systems, and defense systems to protect this site,” Macron said in a TV interview on Thursday. However, he stressed that France was “not getting involved in any conflict,” adding that the decision had been finalized with Saudi authorities.

DENMARK/RUSSIA/EU/MIL - Russia could attack a NATO country within months, Danish intelligence warns
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/25/russia-ukraine-war-nato-denmark-putin.html

Danish intelligence officials have warned that Russia could launch a “limited” military attack against a NATO member in the coming months, saying the Kremlin appears more willing to take risks after more than 4½ years of war against Ukraine.

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service, or DDIS, on Thursday identified a “low but growing risk” that Russia could carry out isolated strikes with long-range weapons on infrastructure that is critical to the support of Ukraine.

“A limited military attack would be a desperate move on Russia’s part and, like the intensified hybrid attacks, could potentially take place in the coming months,” it wrote in a report.

“The purpose would be to redirect European resources away from supporting Ukraine and to sow division within NATO, should the alliance fail to agree on a collective response.”

The DDIS added that it saw no indications that Russia would launch an outright invasion of a NATO country, although it said it could not rule this out.

Russia could also deploy a limited number of troops, possibly without national insignia, into NATO countries on its border, the DDIS said. However, it said that such a buildup would be difficult to conceal and take several months to prepare.

FRANCE/KSA - France to Deploy Forces to Protect Saudi Red Sea Oil Port
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/france-to-deploy-forces-to-protect-saudi-red-sea-oil-port-90b24750

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France plans to send troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect a refinery and crude oil pipeline in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, ramping up France’s military efforts to contain the impact of the Iran war. […]

Yanbu has been one of the main supply nodes for diesel, crude oil and other refined products to Europe since the Iran war began, allowing Saudi exports to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. This month, however, pro-Iranian militias in Iraq damaged the pipeline in a drone attack, shutting it down. Last week, a Houthi attack damaged the Yasref refinery in the area, forcing it to shut down.

The attack shook global fuel markets, adding to a diesel supply crisis that has rattled economies around the world.

Asked whether France could deploy Rafale jet fighters to help protect the site, Macron said it would depend on how the situation evolves, adding that some planes were already in the region.

Stretching 750 miles across Saudi Arabia from the kingdom’s oil-producing heartland on the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the East-West pipeline has become a vital wartime artery, allowing Saudi crude to reach global markets without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It was built in the early 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq War threatened shipping in the Persian Gulf.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE/MIL - Russian strikes shut Ukraine's biggest steelmaker, kill five in Kyiv
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-hits-central-kyiv-killing-child-injuring-least-seven-people-2026-09-25/

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said it was shutting production at Ukraine's largest steel ​plant, underscoring the growing economic toll of Russia's airstrikes that on Friday killed five people in Kyiv, including a 14-year-old boy.

ArcelorMittal said on Friday ‌it had informed the Ukrainian government that "safe and sustainable" operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the southeastern plant.

The shutdown is another blow to Ukraine's once-mighty steel sector, which previously accounted for 15% of the country's exports but has come under pressure from Russian attacks and restrictions from the EU, its top trading partner.

Russia has intensified air strikes ​across Ukraine in recent months using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that have hit businesses, logistics networks, Black Sea port facilities and civilian infrastructure.

The economic impact of ​the attacks is cutting tax revenue and leaving the government with a widening budget gap as it seeks to finance the war, ⁠officials have said.

MORE: ArcelorMittal Drops Plan to Restart Ukrainian Operations After Missile Strikes
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/arcelormittal-says-it-cant-restart-ukrainian-operations-after-missile-strikes-462821fa

ArcelorMittal said it cannot safely restart operations at its Ukrainian subsidiary after missile attacks killed five people and injured 17 employees, and expects to record a $1 billion impairment.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker said Friday that four missile strikes at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih over the past five weeks also caused extensive damage to production facilities. The most recent attack was on Monday.

The expected noncash impairment charge mainly relates to damaged property, plant and equipment at the site in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine.

“We are discussing the future of the plant with the government of Ukraine and will focus on preserving the infrastructure, so when peace finally returns, options for restarting production remain available,” said Mauro Longobardo, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih.

The company previously said it had halted primary steel production at the plant and either idled or reduced activity to the minimum operating levels at the rest of its site after a mid-August missile strike damaged the main energy and blast furnace production facilities. Another attack on the plant in September targeted an ironmaking complex, it said.

The steelmaker said earlier this month that specialist teams were assessing the extent of the damage and the work required to resume operations, but noted it couldn’t yet provide an estimate of how long repairs could take.

ETHIOPIA/SEC - Internet and phone network disrupted in Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray region
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/internet-disruption-seen-war-hit-northern-ethiopia-web-monitor-says-2026-09-25/

Internet and phone networks were disrupted in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray on Friday, after ‌fighting broke out this week between the federal military and Tigrayan forces in the most serious escalation of violence since a 2020-2022 war.

Four people with knowledge of the matter, including a diplomatic source, told Reuters that Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, had ordered private operator Safaricom and state-owned Ethio telecom to cut off access to phone and internet networks in the ​region.

One of the sources had earlier said TPLF restrictions on mobile communications may be part of a tactic to neutralise government forces' advantage in ​using battlefield drones, by preventing them from accessing the mobile network.

The TPLF did not respond to a request for comment. ⁠A source close to the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied it was responsible and blamed the government.

Calls and messages by Reuters reporters to numbers on ​Ethio telecom's network were not going through on Friday, while there was limited connectivity to Safaricom customers. NetBlocks, a monitor that reports internet outages, confirmed the internet was ​disrupted in the area.

KSA/YEMEN - Houthis say they attacked Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/houthis-say-they-attacked-riyadh-aramco-facilities-yanbu-2026-09-24/

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday ​that they had launched ‌missile and drone attacks on what they described ​as "a sensitive target" ​in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh ⁠and on Saudi ​Aramco facilities in the ​Red Sea city of Yanbu.

The statement came after Saudi Arabia ​said it had intercepted ​six ballistic missiles fired by ‌the ⁠Houthis towards the southern province of Taif and Yanbu area on ​the Red ​Sea.

There ⁠was no immediate Saudi confirmation ​of an attack on ​Riyadh ⁠or of damage or casualties in either ⁠Taif ​and Yanbu.

MOROCCO/POL - Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party leads in provisional election results
https://apnews.com/article/morocco-election-results-authenticity-modernity-fb47cf6b29b335c0429c8553cad40a5b

Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party won the largest number of seats in the country’s parliamentary election, according to provisional results announced by the Interior Ministry early Thursday.

Meanwhile, the governing National Assembly of Independents, known by its French acronym RNI, suffered major losses while a moderate Islamist party made a strong comeback.

Moroccans voted for a new parliament Wednesday in an election shaped by mounting frustration among young people, high unemployment despite a thriving economy and demands for better schools, hospitals and housing.

Authenticity and Modernity, or PAM, won 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, Morocco’s lower house. The party was followed by the Independents with 66 seats and the Istiqlal Party with 65. The Justice and Development Party, a moderate Islamist party that won just 13 seats in 2021, surged to 54.

GERMANY/ENERGY/FANTASY/POL - Germany sets out plan to phase out fossil fuels by 2045
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sets-out-plan-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels-by-2045/a-79404028

Germany has presented a road map to phase out fossil fuels by 2045.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that the plan "combines independence, affordability and climate protection."

Europe's largest economy is now the third country to have provided a solid plan for the phaseout — to which nearly 200 countries committed at the 2023 COP28 climate conference in Dubai — following France and the Netherlands.

Schneider, of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said the decision was linked to the Iran war and its impact on fuel supplies worldwide.

"It is not just extreme weather events around the world that demonstrate how urgently we need to do more to protect the climate," he said. "If the situation in the Strait of Hormuz determines whether people can still afford their daily commute to work, that is not a good state of affairs."

UAE/US/IRAN/SANCTIONS - UAE bars Iranian airlines as US sanctions squeeze Iran’s aviation sector
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/9/25/uae-bars-iranian-airlines-as-us-sanctions-squeeze-irans-aviation-sector

The United Arab Emirates has halted flights operated by Iranian airlines, joining several other countries in adopting United States sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran’s aviation sector.

On Thursday, a statement carried by the Emirati WAM news agency said, “The General Civil Aviation Authority announced the suspension of all flights operated by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE.”

It said the decision was “based on the US sanctions imposed on Iranian airlines preventing them from using airports around the world”.

The UAE has joined Oman, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan in restricting or suspending access for Iranian airlines amid the new US sanctions threat.

Dubai, the UAE’s commercial hub, is a major destination for Iranian carriers, with multiple daily flights, a large Iranian community and close business links.

An Iran Airtour flight from Tehran to Dubai was cancelled shortly before its scheduled departure on Thursday morning, after tickets had already been issued, according to the AFP news agency.

MORE: Allies unite behind Saudi Arabia as more Iranian flights restricted
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/allies-unite-behind-saudi-arabia-houthis-step-up-attacks-2026-09-25/

Saudi, Turkish and Pakistani military chiefs are to discuss help for Saudi Arabia as it faces attacks by Yemen's Houthis, while ​Iraq further curtailed Iranian flights on Friday, in line with US pressure, and an Iranian official threatened retaliation.

The Houthis have launched strikes on the Saudi-backed government in Yemen ‌and repeatedly fired into Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil flows from the world's largest energy exporter, as part of a wider Middle East war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

The military escalation continued this week despite a push during the UN General Assembly in New York to revive diplomacy to end the conflict, which quickly spread to Lebanon and the Gulf in March before escalating in Yemen in recent weeks.

With talks stalled and during a lull in ​direct fire by the US and Iran, Washington had shifted tactics to extend financial sanctions by targeting companies from third countries that do business with Iranian firms through "secondary sanctions".

Iranian airlines ​were barred from neighbouring countries including the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Thursday in response to new US sanctions, the first big impact of the ⁠shift.