September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
ESA astronaut finishes volcanic geology training on Lanzarote
European Space Agency astronaut Pablo Álvarez completed three weeks of field geology training on Spain's Lanzarote island. On September 26 he met the PANGAEA team at Tinguatón after traverses in which astronauts identified rocks, lava units and volcanic events. The training aims to help crews describe and sample unfamiliar terrain for planetary scientists. Álvarez has no confirmed lunar assignment; the exercise prepares skills for possible future missions.
German and Russian foreign ministers meet for first time since 2022 invasion
Germany's Johann Wadephul and Russia's Sergey Lavrov met in New York during the UN General Assembly, the first meeting between their foreign ministers since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Wadephul pressed for an agreement on Black Sea grain shipments, while Lavrov said he heard nothing beyond Berlin's public statements. The encounter reopened direct ministerial contact after years of strained relations, but neither side announced a ceasefire or a deal on shipping.
Hamas challenges Gaza board’s refusal to work with UNRWA
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem criticised the US-created Board of Peace for refusing to work with UNRWA in Gaza. He said the position aligned with Israel’s campaign against the UN agency and threatened relief and refugees’ right of return; those are Hamas’s claims. The board says it will work only with partners it trusts and that UNRWA does not meet its test. The dispute concerns who will deliver aid under the Gaza plan.
Hourly fire-weather model exposes local danger missed by daily maps
A peer-reviewed modelling study used high-resolution Meso-NH simulations to revisit three past fire episodes across the Portuguese–Spanish border. Calculating the Fire Weather Index hourly exposed a daily cycle and local gradients linked to sea breezes and terrain flows that coarse daily products missed. The work tests historical cases; it does not establish that an operational forecast will improve or predict where a fire will ignite.
Intern-Decision-2B scores options without writing an answer
InternLM has released Intern-Decision-2B, which assigns probabilities to answer options for named questions about a shared state in one model pass instead of writing a free-form reply. It can also take images as input. A code repository linked from the model card became public after initially returning an error, exposing the inference and evaluation paths. Its published benchmark and speed figures remain the maker’s measurements.
Iran waits for a mediated US answer after Trump rejects Hormuz offer
Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had not yet received Washington’s definitive position through mediators and would decide its next move when it arrived. The offer ties reopening to relief from the US naval blockade and sanctions. No new agreement has been announced, leaving a public rejection and the formal diplomatic channel at different stages.
Irish fuel and mortgage costs add 2,141 euros a year for one example household
An RTÉ calculation puts one example Irish household’s annual extra cost since late February at 2,141 euros across diesel, heating oil, electricity, gas and a tracker mortgage. Diesel has risen from about 1.70 euros to 2.15 euros a litre. The European Central Bank rate increase reaches about 100,000 tracker mortgages in October; the example is not an estimate for every household.
Israel revokes Dutch diplomats’ status in Ramallah over settlement trade ban
Israel has revoked the Israeli-issued diplomatic status of Dutch representatives to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The move responds to a Dutch ban on trade in goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The diplomats were told to return their documents within seven days, when their privileges and immunities are due to expire. The dispute now reaches the practical terms under which the Netherlands maintains its Palestinian representation.
Israeli strikes hit Mayfadoun as southern Lebanon comes under renewed fire
Israeli strikes and shelling continued in southern Lebanon on 27 September, with both Profile News and Al Jazeera reporting a strike near Mayfadoun. Profile News also reported attacks around Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit. Israel linked its strikes to a drone incident, but the drone’s origin had not been independently verified in the retained reporting. The attacks show that the ceasefire framework has not ended military activity in the area.
Jaishankar invokes India's right to self-defence in UN rebuke of Pakistan
India's foreign minister S. Jaishankar used his UN General Assembly speech to accuse Pakistan, without naming it, of trying to normalise terrorism and to say India would exercise its right to defend itself. He was responding to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's remarks about Kashmir and a US role in ending last year's fighting. The exchange leaves the neighbours publicly divided over both that conflict and the terms for better relations.