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A leaked police report has thrown the Spanish government into turmoil, suggesting the Ceuta border crisis was planned and steered by Moroccan authorities rather than the smuggler networks Pedro Sánchez has blamed.

Meanwhile, Israel's national security minister has published a plan to remove every Palestinian from Gaza within six years, and Brussels and NATO are coordinating a response to Russian hybrid attacks after Berlin blamed Moscow for the Leipzig drone.

Everything else below ⤵️

1️⃣ 🇮🇱🇵🇸 Far-right Israeli minister outlines plan for removal of all Palestinians from Gaza: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a 20-page document titled "National Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip", setting out the removal of 250,000 Palestinians in the first year and the remaining population of roughly 2 million over six years. He said countries were "ready" to take them without naming any, though forced displacement from occupied territory is a war crime.

2️⃣ 🇪🇺 11 EU countries demand end to 'obstructive' vetoes on foreign policy: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden wrote to High Representative Kaja Kallas arguing that the EU's culture of consensus must foster common action "rather than preventing it". The letter urges greater use of constructive abstentions and a treaty route from unanimity to qualified majority voting, and none of the Baltic states signed.

3️⃣ 🇳🇴🇷🇺 Norway seizes Russian ship in Arctic over Crimea compensation claim: Norway's Nord-Troms and Senja district court ordered the seizure of the Professor Molchanov, a Russian-owned expedition cruise vessel taken off Svalbard after a 24-hour standoff with the coast guard. It enforces a 2023 Hague tribunal award of $4.22bn to Naftogaz over assets expropriated in Crimea, which Moscow has refused to pay, and Russia's foreign ministry called the seizure "piracy".

4️⃣ 🇮🇱🇬🇷 Israel, Greece seal €3B 'Achilles Shield' defense deal: Israel will build a multilayered air defence network for Greece under a €3.035 billion deal combining David's Sling, BARAK MX and SPYDER interceptors with Israeli radars and a national command system. Israel's Defence Ministry called it the largest defence export agreement in the history of the two countries' relations, and 19 Greek firms account for more than €750 million of the programme.

5️⃣ 🇺🇦 Zelenskyy furious after shootout between Kyiv's spy services: Three officers were reportedly wounded in a shootout in Kyiv between the SBU internal security service and the GUR military intelligence agency, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called "absolutely shameful" as he called in prosecutors and fired a senior SBU officer. Reports said the clash followed the SBU detaining a leader of an anti-Kremlin Russian unit fighting under GUR supervision.

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🇪🇸🇲🇦 Leaked report throws the Spanish government into turmoil

A leaked police report suggested the Ceuta border crisis, in which more than 80,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish enclave, was planned and steered by Moroccan authorities and designed to breach the Spanish border under the guise of a migratory wave.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly exonerated Morocco, blaming smuggler networks and alleging that Russia and Israel spread disinformation about the incident.

The Director-General of the Spanish National Police then assured Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska there was no evidence "whatsoever" that Moroccan authorities orchestrated it.

The leaked papers include photographs said to show plainclothes and uniformed Moroccan security officers, and a police note dated 29 July, the day before the crossing, warning of an "extreme risk" of a "coordinated" arrival.

Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said the government "knew it and covered it up", and the European Commission said it would not comment on leaks while a Spanish investigation was under way.

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1️⃣ 🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russia, China leaders to meet at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and more than a dozen other leaders gathered in Bishkek for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expected to hold bilateral talks with President Putin. The bloc's founding declaration says it is "not an alliance directed against other states".

2️⃣ 🇫🇮🇷🇺 Finland runs Europe's biggest civil defense exercise since the end of World War II: Finland has staged the largest civil defence exercise in Europe since the Second World War, with more than 2,000 people in Kuopio rehearsing a Russian attack that cuts off power and water. Savon Voima chief executive Juha Räsänen said cyberattacks on his company's network had risen sharply since the invasion of Ukraine, and engineers found at least 10 stickers on vulnerable infrastructure last year.

3️⃣ 🇷🇺🇳🇪 Russia says it helped to repel Niger attempted coup: Moscow's foreign ministry said Nigerien forces repelled the attempted coup in Niamey "with the assistance of servicemen of the African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defence", and that the situation was under the control of authorities headed by President Gen Abdourahmane Tiani. The Alliance of Sahel States called the attempt "a betrayal by a group of soldiers".

4️⃣ 🇺🇸🇻🇪 Trump says US will refill its petroleum reserves using Venezuelan oil: US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that oil from the new Venezuela deal would replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which held about 290 million barrels on 21 August, near a 44-year low. Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez said the 25-year agreement covers 65 billion barrels and 17 strategic oilfields, with $19 from every barrel sold to the US flowing to Caracas.

5️⃣ 🇩🇪🇷🇺 Germany blames Russia for Leipzig airport drone attack: Germany's government blamed Russia for the attempted 4 August attack on Leipzig Airport with an explosive-laden drone, and will close the Russian consulate in Bonn on 18 September and rescind the contract for the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the drone's configuration, components, explosives and detonator were known from other Russian hybrid operations.

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