the media

US intelligence, according to reports shared by the CIA with several European governments, has information that Russia may be preparing a drone attack on Spain, France, or Italy. The warning has spread rapidly across European social media, with users in Italy, Spain, and France debating the credibility of the intelligence and what a strike on a Mediterranean country would mean for NATO and European security.

Millions of residents are returning to Khartoum after fighting, only to find the city largely unlivable, with power cuts, rubble and destroyed infrastructure dominating the picture. Media outlets including AFP and Africanews are reporting on the scale of destruction in the Sudanese capital and the enormous humanitarian and reconstruction challenge facing those coming home.

The White House excluded journalists from the dinner with China's President Xi Jinping, then President Donald Trump complained publicly that the event received little media coverage. The decision to bar reporters, followed by frustration at the resulting lack of reporting, has drawn criticism and mockery, with commentators calling the sequence self-inflicted and highlighting tensions over media access to Trump's meetings with Xi.

Russia fired a large wave of drones at Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions overnight, causing deaths and damage, according to the headline making the rounds on social media. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly reported such attacks targeting the capital and regional infrastructure in recent weeks, drawing condemnation and fresh calls for stronger air defences from Ukraine's allies.

Russia has restored its Perimeter system, a retaliatory nuclear strike mechanism that would launch automatically if leadership were decapitated, according to a report by The Sunday Times cited by SFG Media. The so-called 'Dead Hand' system is one of Moscow's most secretive nuclear assets, and confirmation of its restoration would signal Russia's readiness to guarantee retaliation even under a decapitation strike.

A Guardian report describes UN aid workers in Gaza digging through rubble and ruins to recover dead bodies, underlining the scale of destruction and loss after two years of war. The item is being shared widely on social media with hashtags referencing Gaza, Israel and Palestine, as attention focuses on humanitarian conditions and the recovery effort on the ground.

The Telegraph reports, citing the CIA, that Russia is planning seaborne drone attacks against Italy, Spain and France. According to the report, Moscow intends to expand its operations beyond Eastern Europe and the Baltics into the Mediterranean and Western Europe. The claims are drawing attention across Europe, particularly in Italy, where the story is spreading widely on social media.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for military action in the occupied West Bank, urging forces to 'do what we did in Gaza'. The remarks, reported by Palestinian media, are drawing criticism as an open call to extend the devastating Gaza war to a second Palestinian territory, intensifying concerns about escalation.

Iran's foreign minister said Tehran is prepared for what he called a 'doomsday war', a stark warning issued amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. The remark is drawing wide attention from international media and raising concerns about a wider regional confrontation, with observers watching how Israel, the United States and Iran's regional allies respond to the escalation in rhetoric.

A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy has killed two civilians, one of them a teenager, and injured five others. The attack is being described on social media as another war crime by Russia, with calls for accountability from international bodies such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Photos from the aftermath circulated alongside Ukrainian media reports.

Scientists are warning that extreme temperatures driven by the ongoing 'super' El Niño could cause nearly half a million deaths by February. The warning links the intensified El Niño pattern to dangerous heat extremes, and the figure is drawing attention online as people share and discuss the scale of the projected human toll.

Russia may be preparing a drone operation against European targets, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports. According to the report, the CIA warned Spain, France and Italy about a possible attack scenario in which drones would be hidden inside ordinary shipping containers on merchant vessels and launched from the sea. The alleged plan draws comparisons to Ukraine's 'Operation Spiderweb', and the story is spreading rapidly across Spanish, French and Italian social media.

An investigation has revealed that social media accounts linked to Iran created fake Israeli identities in an effort to influence an election. The operation involved impersonating Israelis online, apparently to shape political discourse or spread divisive content. The finding adds to ongoing concerns about foreign interference campaigns targeting elections through covert influence networks.

A Russian newspaper is warning of a "deterioration of the economic situation" in Russia, a striking admission in a country where the media generally follows the official line that the economy remains resilient under Western sanctions. The warning is drawing wide attention, including from BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg, as Russians face rising prices, high interest rates and mounting pressure on businesses.

An Israeli Apache helicopter struck a commercial center near Mayfadoun in southern Lebanon, according to reports circulating on social media. The strike reportedly took place despite the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, underscoring that hostilities continue in the region. Observers are pointing to the attack as another apparent violation of the truce that has held fragile since late 2024.

Russian guided bombs struck civilian areas in Sumy, Ukraine, killing two people and injuring five others, according to Ukrainian media reports. The attack is being circulated widely online, with commentators condemning it as a war crime and calling for international responses from bodies such as the UN, ICC and OSCE.

Two separate mass shootings took place in South Africa, with witnesses describing the attacks to media. Authorities have not released full details on the number of victims or possible motives. The back-to-back shootings have drawn international attention and raised concerns about gun violence and public safety in the country.

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a report from Palestinian media. The death comes as Gaza continues to grapple with an estimated 61 million tons of rubble left by more than a year of Israeli bombardment, a debris burden that UN agencies say will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to clear and that complicates reconstruction and the search for bodies still buried under the ruins.

AI data centers are drawing scrutiny for their environmental footprint, including heavy electricity and water consumption, growing e-waste, and carbon emissions tied to expanding cloud infrastructure. As artificial intelligence adoption accelerates, governments, companies, and communities are increasingly debating how to balance the technology's benefits against its energy demands and impact on local resources.

South African police say they have found the body of an 11th woman near Johannesburg, and are investigating the killings in a country with some of the world's highest rates of violence against women. The case is drawing growing attention to concerns over femicide and public safety in South Africa.