Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan to sign joint defense agreement amid effort to contain Iran
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The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
The US Justice Department (DOJ) says a man charged in connection with a mid-July fire at the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center targeted the house of worship because it is a mosque.
Vincent Lang, 60, “was charged by indictment with one count of malicious damage by means of fire to a building used in interstate commerce and one count of damage to religious real property,” the DOJ says in a statement.
The indictment alleges that “Lang carried out the act because of the religious character of that property, that is, because it was a mosque.”
The defendant has been detained in federal custody since his mid-July arrest, the DOJ says.
The indictment alleges that, in the early hours of July 5, Lang maliciously damaged and destroyed, and attempted to damage and destroy, by means of fire, the Northeast Philadelphia Islamic Center.
Local media reported no one was injured in the incident.
If convicted, Lang faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of five years’ imprisonment, the DOJ says.
A representative of Lang could not be reached for comment.
US rights advocates have noted rising Islamophobia in the decades following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, and more recently because of anti-immigration policies, white supremacy and the fallout from Israel’s war in Gaza.
Palestinian media report that Khamis Jabara, an 80-year-old Palestinian, was injured yesterday after allegedly being beaten by IDF soldiers in the West Bank village of Turmus Ayya.
A video circulating on social media appears to show Jabara lying on the ground with a head wound, bleeding, as three soldiers stand nearby. A Palestinian identifying himself as Jabara’s nephew is seen trying to speak to the troops, who do not respond.
According to the claim made in the video, Jabara is a US citizen.
The IDF has not yet responded to a request for comment.
مشاهد توثق اعتداء قوات الاحتلال على خميس جبارة "80 عاما" في بلدة ترمسعيا بالضفة الغربية pic.twitter.com/HV8w05wvIx
— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) August 7, 2026
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meets with Colombia’s incoming President Abelardo de la Espriella a day before the latter’s inauguration.
Sa’ar will attend the inauguration as well.
The pair have a three-hour private meeting and lunch at De la Espriella’s office in Barranquilla, says Sa’ar’s office.
They discussed ways to strengthen bilateral diplomatic, security and economic relations, according to the Israeli readout.
Mi amigo, @ABDELAESPRIELLA , quien asumirá mañana como presidente de Colombia, es un líder decidido e inspirador. Su elección es una gran noticia para su país, pero también para la relación entre Israel y Colombia. De la Espriella es un gran amigo del pueblo judío y del Estado de… pic.twitter.com/6HVLKj3LHM
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) August 7, 2026
Sa’ar thanks De La Espriella for his decision to move Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem, telling him, “You have laid a brick in the walls of Jerusalem.”
The two last met in Buenos Aires in November.
In Sa’ar’s Washington, DC meeting with Colombia’s incoming Foreign Minister last month, Omar Bola Escobar, the two agreed on restoring full diplomatic relations, appointing ambassadors, lifting visa requirements, and relocating Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem.
They also agreed to renew Colombian coal shipments to Israel and for Bogota to withdraw from South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Former Tennessee agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher has defeated US Rep. Andy Ogles in a Republican primary for a significantly reshaped congressional district — marking a rare rejection of a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Ogles, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, had faced controversies related to his campaign finances and resume, among other things. But Trump gave him an early endorsement last fall — and praised him on Election Day as “a Conservative Warrior” — as Ogles sought a third term in the reshaped district.
Ogles capitalized on a previous redistricting in the 2022 elections, winning a formerly Democratic-held seat that was reshaped to Republicans’ advantage by splitting the Nashville area among three districts.
The new 5th District stretches from Ogles’ base in central Tennessee to the northwest corner of the state before snaking south along the Mississippi River to Memphis — with 82% of its voters new, according to an Associated Press estimate.
Although he lacked Trump’s endorsement, Hatcher was backed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, under whom he served for seven years. Hatcher campaigned as pro-Trump while emphasizing his farming background.
“Think what President Trump could do if our congressman spent less time talking and more time doing,” Hatcher’s campaign website said.
Trump has mostly backed winners so far in this year’s Republican primaries, though his favored candidate in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District primary, Amir Hassan, lost Tuesday.
Ogles’ controversies have included the FBI seizing his cellphone in 2024 as part of an investigation into his campaign finance reporting. The Justice Department recently agreed to return the device , signaling that it was abandoning the probe, which began under the Biden administration.
In 2023, Ogles acknowledged that he had graduated with a liberal studies degree from Middle Tennessee State University, saying he was “mistaken” for previously describing it as an international relations degree.
Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder won the Democratic primary in the 5th District.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will sign a joint defense agreement in Saudi Arabia on Friday, two regional sources with direct knowledge of the matter tells Reuters.
Saudi Arabia expects imminent coordinated attacks from the north and south by Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthis under the supervision of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary…
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