Rerum Novarum // Intel, Breaking News, and Alerts 🇺🇸

🇮🇷⚡- Sound of an explosion was heard on Qeshm Island, Iran, too.

🇪🇸⚡️- “Spanish prosecutors say 23 sexual assaults, including nine against children, have been recorded in Ceuta since the mass influx of migrants into the Spanish exclave at the end of July.” - BBC.

🇮🇷⚡- Two explosions heard near Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. Cause unknown.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡- US embassy in Jerusalem issues a new security alert advising Americans in the Middle East to exercise extra caution.

🇩🇪🇷🇺⚡- "Russia has deliberately decided to further significantly damage our already massively strained bilateral relationship," - Johann Wadephul, German Foreign Minister.

🇩🇪🇷🇺⚡- The German Ministry of Interior officially labels the drone incident involving a Ukrainian military cargo aircraft at the Leipzig/Halle Airport as a 'Russian hybrid attack'. Berlin has summoned the Russian Foreign Minister and has closed the Russian House in Berlin and the Russian Consulate in Bonn. The European Commission President and NATO's Secretary General have expressed solidarity with Germany.

🇮🇷🇴🇲⚡- On August 31, yesterday, only 5 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, a 50% decrease compared to 10 transits the previous day. Of the five vessels, two were ghost tankers and one was under US, UK, and EU sanctions, which suggests at least three of the five were very possibly Iranian ships. Four of the five vessels entered the Gulf, while only one existed to the Arabian Sea. Note, this does not indicate a low supply of Gulf oil to the global market. The US is currently leading an operation to export oil and gas from the Strait of Hormuz, which requires smaller, but faster vessels passing through the Hormuz via Omani waters under US military protection, then transferring its medium to a larger tanker. Dozens of ship-to-ship transfers occur daily in the Arabian Sea. The use of smaller and faster ships makes it difficult for Iran to detect and disable them.

🇺🇸⚡️- The victim in yesterdays Time Square stabbing was Bank of America employee Erin Piacenti. She was VP of Business Selection and Conflicts.

🇨🇩🇷🇼⚡- Initial reports, the M23-allied Twirwaneho and the pro-M23 Burundian-militia Red Tabara have launched a joint offensive on Uvira, South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Violent clashes are underway between the pro-M23 groups and the Burundian military, which is supported by Wazalendo, as Twirwaneho are attempting to cross the Mulongwe heights, just west of Uvira,

🇺🇸⚡️- The Jury in the Lindsey Clancy trial cannot come to a unanimous decision. The Judge has asked them to continue deliberating. Multiple women on the Jury have worn pink in solidarity with Clancy.

🇸🇾🇱🇾⚡- Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani visited Tripoli on Sunday, meeting western Libya’s GNU Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Acting Foreign Minister Taher al-Baour, as Damascus and Tripoli moved to restore and amend ties. During the visit, al-Shaibani reopened the Syrian Embassy in Tripoli after more than 14 years of closure, while the two sides signed an agreement to reactivate the Libyan-Syrian Joint Higher Committee. Note, eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar had previously accused the Tripoli-based GNU of recruiting fighters from the Syrian National Army, SNA—formerly concentrated in northern Syria, particularly around the Azaz–Mare’ area—to fight alongside GNU-aligned forces against Haftar’s Libyan National Army, LNA.

🇺🇸⚡️- John Ternus has replaced Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

🇬🇧⚡️- The Green Party will possibly run their party leader Zack Polanski as a candidate for the seat in Holborn and St Pancras.

🇬🇧⚡️- Restore Britain has announced they will participate in the by-election for Holborn and St Pancras.

🇬🇧⚡️- Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he is resigning as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras.

🇩🇪⚡️ — NEW: Several “homemade rockets” struck Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg, near the Polish border, according to Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung. The facility was struck multiple times, but security forces secured and defused the remaining devices. Dpa reports that explosive devices were also found at the substation in Turnow-Preilack in Brandenburg, not far from the Jänschwalde power plant. The suspected aim was to cause a large-scale power outage, although the network operator said there was only a “short-term line interruption.” No one was injured, and electricity supplies remained stable.

🇪🇺⚡️- Eurozone inflation reaches 3.3% in August, highest since September 2023. Energy prices are up by 14.3% in August, compared to 10.3% in July. Economists indicate these increases are direct consequences of the unresolved conflict in the Middle East.

🇺🇸🇨🇦⚡️- According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 57% of Americans oppose the new taxes on Canadian imports and 63% oppose the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

🇳🇵🇨🇳⚡️- The floods in Tibet and Nepal have caused over 1000 deaths according to the latest reports.

🇨🇳🇻🇪⚡️- "China's lawful rights and interests in Venezuela must be protected." - Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.