Archive September 3, 2025

Last year, inspectors visited and took environmental samples at “three locations that were allegedly functionally related” to the remote desert site Deir el-Zour, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Fredrik Dahl said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Analysis revealed a significant number of anthropogenic natural uranium particles in samples taken at one of the three locations. Some of these uranium particles are consistent with the conversion of uranium ore concentrate to uranium oxide”, said Dahl. This would be typical of a nuclear power reactor.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi reported these findings to the agency’s board of directors on Monday in a report on developments in Syria.

The report also stated that “the current Syrian authorities indicated that they had no information that might explain the presence of such uranium particles”.

The IAEA urged Syria on Tuesday to cooperate fully over allegations that it had been building a covert nuclear reactor at Deir Az Zor.

Syria has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The Deir Az Zor site only became public knowledge after Israel – which is the Middle East’s only state with nuclear weapons, although it has not declared its own programme – launched air strikes in 2007, destroying the facility. Syria later levelled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions.

An IAEA team visited some sites of interest last year while al-Assad was still in power. After al-Assad’s fall last December in a rebel offensive on the capital Damascus, the new government led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa agreed to cooperate with the agency and again provided inspectors access to the site where the uranium particles had been found.

They took more samples there and “will evaluate the results of all of the environmental samples taken at this location and the information acquired from the planned visit to the site, and may conduct follow-up activities, as necessary”, Dahl said on Tuesday.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency in June during a visit to Damascus, Grossi said al-Sharaa had expressed an interest in pursuing nuclear energy for Syria in the future. The IAEA said Syria granted its inspectors access to the location for a second time to gather more samples.

A number of other countries in the region are pursuing nuclear energy in some form. Grossi said Syria would most likely be looking into small modular reactors, which are cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional large ones.

The United Nations has warned of an exponential rise in casualties from a powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as the Taliban said the death toll had surpassed 1, 400 on Tuesday, with more than 3, 000 people injured.

The figures provided by Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid were mainly for the province of Kunar.

Sunday night’s magnitude 6 earthquake affected several provinces, causing extensive damage. It flattened villages and trapped people under the rubble of homes constructed mainly of mud bricks and wood, which were unable to withstand the shock.

Rough terrain is hampering rescue and relief efforts, forcing Taliban authorities to airdrop dozens of commandos to evacuate the injured from places where helicopters cannot land.

A magnitude 5.2 aftershock, close to the epicentre of Sunday’s earthquake, rattled the area on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Indrika Ratwatte, the United Nations resident coordinator for Afghanistan, said rescuers are scrambling in a “race against time” to reach the mountainous and remote area. In a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, he warned of a surge in casualty numbers.

“We cannot afford to forget the people of Afghanistan who are facing multiple crises, multiple shocks, and the resilience of the communities has been saturated”, Ratwatte said, urging the international community to step forward.

“These are life-and-death decisions while we race against time to reach people”, he said.

It is the third strong earthquake since the Taliban seized power in 2021, and the latest crisis to beset Afghanistan, which is reeling from deep cuts to aid funding, a weak economy, and millions of Afghans forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un discussed the deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang during talks on Wednesday in Beijing.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, as they conspire against the United States of America, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Following a military parade in central Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over celebrations in Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II, the meeting was held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Difficulty number of world leaders, despite almost none from the West, were drawn to the event, which in part conveyed a message to the audience.

After a formal reception, the Kremlin claimed on social media that Putin and Kim travelled to the meeting in the same vehicle. Kim’s daughter Kim Ju Ae was present, according to images from North Korean state media.

Kim made his first public appearance alongside both Putin and Xi, which was a sign of unity during the parade in China.

Putin praised the bravery and heroism of North Korean soldiers, who he claimed fought alongside Russian forces in a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, Russia’s border region.

Since Moscow and Pyongyang signed a strategic partnership pact in June 2024, Kim asserted, in turn, that cooperation has “significantly increased.”

If there is anything I can do to help you and the Russian people, I will act as if there is something more that is needed, a fraternal duty, a duty that we must bear, and I will be ready to do anything to help, Kim said.

According to South Korean officials, North Korea has sent about 15, 000 soldiers to Russia since last year in order to bolster Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, along with significant military supplies, including artillery and KN-23 ballistic missiles.

According to analysts, Pyongyang is receiving cutting-edge Russian military equipment in return, including satellite guidance systems that could expand its missile arsenal.

For the first time in 24 years, Putin and Kim signed a treaty establishing a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” that revived diplomatic ties between the two sanctioned states in July 2024. Kim has previously had three meetings with Vladimir Putin.

North Korea only acknowledged that its soldiers had been killed in combat and that it had only confirmed that it had sent troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in April.

Kim met with the families of the soldiers killed last week in Ukraine, offering condolences for their “unforgiveable pain” and promising the bereaved “a beautiful life,” according to state media.

Kim hosted the families of the fallen soldiers, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Saturday, and he expressed “grief at having failed to save the precious lives of those who gave their lives to defend the country’s honor.

The North Korean leader expressed sympathy for the children who lost their fathers in his “heart breaks and aches.”

On Tuesday morning, Israeli drones were reportedly dropped close to peacekeepers removing roadblocks that were preventing them from reaching a UN position near the southern Lebanese border with Israel (UNIFIL).

Since the cessation of the hostilities agreement in November last year, this is one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

One grenade struck UN personnel and vehicles within 20 meters and three within 100 meters.

Israel has been violating the ceasefire that it signed in November of this year with Hezbollah, carrying out near-daily attacks on Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah members and sites, as well as killing numerous civilians, displaced communities, and destroyed infrastructure and residential structures.

According to UNIFIL, the Israeli army was informed of the location’s southeastern road clearance work.

According to UNIFIL, any actions that put an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and interfere with their legitimate duties are unacceptable and a serious violation of Resolution 1701 and international law.

UNIFIL patrols Israel’s southern border with Lebanon since it was established in 1978.

The UN Security Council approved a year-long, orderly and secure drawdown and withdrawal of Lebanon last week until the end of 2026.

Israel and the United States have heavily pushed for UNIFIL’s closure, despite the fact that UNIFIL has not fulfilled its stated purpose. They claim that the organization has provided political cover for Hezbollah since the 2006 war.

In addition to its invasion of south Lebanon in October, Israel is still occupying at least five locations on Lebanese territory. Israeli troops should leave south of Lebanon, according to the November ceasefire agreement, but that has not yet been done.

Naim Qassem, the group’s secretary-general, has criticized growing pressure to disarm the organization and warned that achieving Lebanon’s sovereignty could only be achieved by putting an end to Israel’s “aggression.”

Before talks on a national defense strategy can begin, Qassem claimed last month that the Lebanese government must first ensure that Israel adheres to the ceasefire agreement from November 2024.

The Hezbollah leader said that the resistance would continue to serve as a “strong barrier” that would prevent Israel from achieving its objectives and that it would be impossible for Israel to remain in Lebanon or carry out its expansionist project there.