Large-scale cyberattacks target several Iranian websites

Large-scale cyberattacks targeted several Iranian websites, including those of Iranian government agencies and the official Iranian news agency IRNA, on Saturday, while the United States and Israel launched attacks against the Middle East country, said a reporter from China Central Television (CCTV) citing local media outlets.

Media reports captured heavy smoke rising from explosions in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

Panic erupted on the streets of the city, leading to severe traffic congestion, as observed by the CCTV reporter.

Iran closed its airspace while the attacks were ongoing, and explosions also occurred in several provinces outside Tehran.

The Iranian military has announced that it will respond with devastating force to the strikes by the United States and Israel.

The U.S. and Israel on Saturday launched "major combat operations" against Iran, plunging the war-torn Middle East into a new round of violent conflicts.

Iran retaliated with a series of counterattacks against Israel and U.S. targets across the region, with explosions reported in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, among other countries.

The latest flare-up came after the United States and Iran wrapped up their third round of indirect talks earlier this week and agreed to resume negotiations next week.

Large-scale cyberattacks target several Iranian websites

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship