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Madrid (AFP) – Spain’s prime minister announces that the country will implement nine measures aimed at stopping “the genocide in Gaza”. The announcement marks the latest escalation in Spain’s outspoken criticism of the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by Hamas’s 2023 attack. Included in the measures are an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on vessels carrying fuel for the Israeli military using Spanish ports. Pedro Sanchez says the the move is also so that the Spanish people “knows and feels that…their country, Spain, was on the right side of history.”

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro gather in Sao Paulo days before the Supreme Court decides whether the far-right leader is guilty of attempting a coup. Bolsonaro risks up to 43 years in prison if convicted of attempting to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. IMAGES

Lima (AFP) – On the order of an appeals court, former Peruvian president Martin Vizcarra has been released from prison, where he was held in pre-trial detention for 22 days. Vizcarra, 62, was sent to prison on August 13 by a judge who claimed he was a flight risk in the trial concerning alleged bribes received when he was governor of the Moquegua region 11 years ago. IMAGES

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinians inspect the damage to their tents caused by an Israeli strike on the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City. A strike hit a tent sheltering a a displaced Palestinian family, killing five people including three children, according to civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. “What have these innocent children done to the State of Israel to be killed?” says one Gaza City resident.

Buenos Aires (Argentina) (AFP) – Supporters and opponents of Argentine President Javier Milei scuffle outside a campaign rally. Tensions are high ahead of legislative elections amid public outrage over a Milei family corruption scandal. The president’s sister, Karina Milei, is accused of receiving a three-percent cut on the amount paid by the National Disability Agency (Andis) for the purchase of medicine from Argentine pharma firm Suizo Argentina. The Mileis maintain their innocence.

Lisbon (AFP) – People in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon wrestle with shock and dismay after one of city’s famed funiculars — climbing railways that serve both communities — came off the tracks and crashed, killing 16 people. With their 19th-century charm, the funiculars provide a way of navigating the Portuguese capital’s many hills, as convenient as they are picture-postcard perfect.

NATO chief Mark Rutte says “nobody else can decide” about Ukraine having “security-guaranteed forces” other than the Ukrainians themselves. Rutte is speaking in Prague as the so-called coalition of the willing meets for talks in Paris to agree security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace accord with Russia. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson has said Moscow would not consider the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format”.

In an upscale district in northern Tehran, Saeed is one of many small business owners struggling with frequent blackouts that are deepening Iran’s economic crisis. “Outages often hit at lunchtime, the worst time for restaurant owners,” the pizzeria owner says. Butchers, bakers, pastry shops, and ice cream vendors have suffered heavy losses as their products spoil during the outages.

Beijing (AFP) – China says President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un will hold talks and have an “in-depth exchange” as the North Korean leader makes a rare visit outside his secretive country. Kim’s visit to Beijing is his second reported trip abroad in six years and first to China since 2019.

Mar del Plata (Argentina) (AFP) – Argentine police recover an 18th century painting stolen from a Dutch Jewish art collector over a week after it appeared in a property ad, investigators say. Prosecutors say that “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian baroque portraitist Giuseppe Ghislandi, which was photographed hanging in the home of the daughter of a senior SS officer, had been returned by the woman’s lawyer. IMAGES

Mexico (AFP) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vows to keep up strikes targeting drug cartels after Washington said it destroyed a boat in the Caribbean allegedly belonging to a Venezuelan gang. “It’ll happen again. Maybe it is happening right now, I don’t know, but the point is the president of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations,” he says during a joint press conference with Mexico’s foreign minister in Mexico City. SOUNDBITE

Beijing (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country will carry on fighting in Ukraine if a peace deal cannot be reached, as he wraps up a visit to China. Progress towards settling the three-and-a-half-year conflict appears to have stalled despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts from US President Donald Trump, who met both his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts last month.