Category: News

There is a growing assessment in Israel that the emergency on board the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was an attempted terror attack, though it still can’t say so definitively, Channel 12 and Ynet reported. 

The flight landed safely in Saudi Arabia after a violent altercation in the cockpit.

Unconfirmed reports in Hebrew media say the copilot, an Omani, is being investigated on the ground by Saudi authorities, after allegedly stabbing the captain, an Emirati, and attempting to crash the plane, according to The Times of Israel.

At the same time, other options are being looked into, including a mental health episode that was not nationalistic in nature.

There has not yet been an official statement on the circumstances of the incident by Israeli, Saudi or Emirati authorities.

Flight FDB1073, with a reported 180 passengers — including dozens of Israelis — sent a “squawk code” of 7700, a general international emergency signal, as it made a U-turn over the Jordan-Saudi Arabia border, according to The Times of Israel.

The Boeing 737 MAX, as it flew over Saudi Arabia, briefly issued a code 7500, meaning a hijacking or unlawful interference.

The plane failed to maintain a steady altitude, though it remained at around 15,000 feet, indicating it was being controlled by hand rather than autopilot.

Israeli authorities were unable to make contact with the plane during the incident.

Times of Israel reported that the plane landed safely at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.

The Flydubai pilot injured in an attack during a flight on 30 September is an Indian national, Indian television channel NDTV reported, citing sources.

According to the report, Smit Machchhar thwarted an alleged sabotage attempt by the co-pilot and was injured in the ensuing confrontation. Machchhar has worked for Flydubai for four years, having previously spent 10 years with Indian airline SpiceJet.

As previously reported, the Flydubai aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed in Saudi Arabia some time after transmitting an emergency signal. The airline later confirmed that an incident had occurred on board.

Subsequent media reports alleged that one of the pilots had stabbed the other and attempted to crash the aircraft.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming artificial intelligence to “super intelligence” in an effort to rebrand the technology amid calls to rein in its development. Trump has repeatedly characterized whistleblowers’ warnings of insufficient oversight of AI companies as overblown and a “hoax,” Politico reported.

The executive order said that the term “super intelligence” better captures the capabilities of the rapidly developing technology, which does “much more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence.”

“As these capabilities continue to improve, they increasingly represent not merely artificial intelligence, but a new era of Super Intelligence,” the order said. “The terminology used by the Federal Government should reflect the transformative capabilities of these technologies and the limitless opportunities they create for the American people.”

“It’s not artificial, we all agree on that,” Trump said to reporters Tuesday.

In the AI space, the term “super intelligence” already refers to a specific kind of AI that exceeds the cognitive capabilities of humans in virtually all aspects of thinking. Superintelligent AI has not yet been achieved.

The executive order requires all U.S. federal agencies to use the new term, or “SI,” when referring to the technology in public communications, websites, reports and policy documents. Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, will also determine whether an official definition of the new term should be modified or expanded, according to the order.

The rebranding comes a week after the president began using the new term at the U.N. General Assembly, pushing back against calls for greater regulation of the industry.

He assured world leaders that tech executives would erect the appropriate guardrails on their models. Tech executives signed a “morally binding” constitution on AI on Tuesday at the White House.

Key AI industry leaders signed onto a pledge Tuesday to self-police development, U.S. President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced following a meeting at the White House, The Hill reported.

The agreement, called “The White House Accord on Superintelligence Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities,” lays out a series of voluntary commitments for AI developers, Johnson explained.

Trump described the pledge as “almost like a constitution” and “morally binding,” adding that “there’s going to be a tremendous self-policing aspect.” He also said they are considering forming a committee that can “watch over the whole entity.”

In a rare White House North Lawn appearance, the president and House speaker were joined by numerous tech executives — including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and xAI CEO Elon Musk.

“The basic idea is that we want to give the American people and our customers confidence that the technology works in the way that we intend,” Zuckerberg said.

As part of the accord, the companies are committing to building “robust” internal controls and detection capabilities, the Meta CEO said. This is coupled with “multiple layers of auditing.”

He added that an independent committee of the board of directors will independently review reports that come from auditors. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received US feedback via Qatari mediators in Doha on a seven-day plan aimed ‌at building trust between Washington and Tehran, with sequencing the main sticking point, Reuters reported, citing an official who was not Iranian but was briefed on the talks.

Araghchi is expected to discuss the U.S. response in Tehran on Wednesday, the official told Reuters.

Iran last ⁠week presented a seven-day proposal under which Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored if the necessary conditions were met. U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently rejected the proposal, prompting further Qatari mediation.

Pakistan will use “whatever means are available” to defend Saudi Arabia against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the country’s defense minister said Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declined to say whether Pakistani forces had already participated in airstrikes.

He said, however, that Pakistan’s military capabilities would be available to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

“I’m not going into detail, but obviously when I say that we are bound by this arrangement to defend Saudi Arabia, that means whatever means are available at our disposal, they’ll be available to Saudi Arabia also. I think that’s a categoric statement,” Asif told reporters during a visit to Rome when asked whether Pakistan had been involved in airstrikes against Iranian operators in Yemen.

His response did not explicitly confirm Pakistani participation in any strikes. He also did not say whether Saudi Arabia, which has been repeatedly attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks, had asked for assistance.

His comments came days after the army chiefs of Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia met in Riyadh to discuss responses to Houthi attacks.

Asif said the Houthis had intensified missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and expanded their control along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

The Houthis recently captured the strategic port city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands, extending their reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a maritime route through which about 12% of global trade passes. They, along with allied militias in Iraq, also have attacked Saudi oil facilities and sought to prevent Saudi tankers from using the strait, according to AP.

Fatima Zahra El Mansouri has been named Morocco’s first female prime minister, after her centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the most seats in last week’s parliamentary elections, the BBC reported.

Her appointment makes her only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.

She was named by King Mohammed VI, who chose her as prime minister over the country’s football chief Fouzi Lekjaa, a top politician from the same party. El Mansouri, 50, has been the mayor of Marrakesh for a number of years and also served as a minister in the previous coalition government.

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy but most power remains in the hands of the king.

At a victory press conference, prior to her announcement as prime minister, El Mansouri was asked whether the state would need to make changes to accommodate her in Muslim religious ceremonies attended by the king, including Friday and Eid prayers, where men and women pray in separate sections.

She did not directly answer the question, instead praising the king as “the biggest advocate for women” in the country.

“His Majesty is the holder of wisdom… If I am entrusted with the responsibility of head of government, it will be a great honour,” she said.

Russian forces launched strikes with ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles on various regions of Ukraine overnight. Kyiv and the Kyiv region were particularly hard hit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that five people, including a child, were killed. Fourteen people were injured.

According to the Russian service of the BBC, Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said that energy infrastructure facilities were targeted in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine. He said this was the first time since the previous heating season that the energy infrastructure had been subjected to such a massive and combined attack. Koretskyi added that residential buildings, social infrastructure facilities, civilian enterprises and the railway were also hit.

According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, three people were killed and six were injured in the capital.

Twelve people were also injured in Russia’s Bryansk region in Ukrainian strikes. According to TASS, nine of them were students at a local college.

Deputy Minister of Environment Ara Mkrtchyan held a meeting with Ambassador of Sweden to Armenia Eva Sundqvist.

Officials from the relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Ministry of Environment also attended the meeting.

According to the Ministry of Environment’s readout, a number of areas related to the development of environmental cooperation between Armenia and Sweden were discussed, including waste management and the introduction of an extended producer responsibility system, effective management of water resources, wastewater treatment, and reforestation.

Deputy Minister Mkrtchyan emphasized the importance of studying and adapting the experience of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, particularly in terms of establishing sustainable and effective systems in the field of waste management.

The parties also discussed the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17). Armenia’s priorities as the country presiding over and hosting COP17, as well as the work being carried out within the framework of the conference, were presented.

The sides reaffirmed their readiness to bring environmental cooperation to a more coordinated and practical level, with the aim of combining bilateral cooperation with opportunities emerging within the framework of COP17.

Strong Armenia faction MP Argishti Darbinyan was elected on Wednesday deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic affairs.

During a committee session after the election, the opposition MP thanked his faction leader, MP Narek Karapetyan, for nominating him.

Speaking about his new position, Darbinyan said it would place greater responsibility on him.

According to him, the committee should not only exercise parliamentary oversight but also involve specialists and interested citizens in discussions of sector-specific issues. “With a strong and developing economy, we will have a strong and peaceful country,” the MP said.