Author: Admin

LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham spent years working his way up before reaching the top — and now that he’s there, the clock is already ticking.

A decade ago, Burnham walked away from a 20-year career climbing the Labour Party ranks in London to head north and take on the role of Greater Manchester’s mayor. Just one month ago, he secured a return to Parliament by winning a high-stakes special election. This Monday, he will be sworn in as Britain’s 59th prime minister.

The abrupt collapse of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government after only two years in power has thrust the 56-year-old Burnham into the country’s top job — largely untested on the national stage and unfamiliar to much of the British public outside Manchester. He steps through the door of No. 10 Downing Street carrying enormous expectations and serious doubts about whether he can meet them.

“A whole range of people across the Labour movement and in the country have projected onto Andy Burnham their hopes and their fantasies about how the country should be run and what Labour should stand for and what Andy Burnham stands for,” said Joshi Herrmann, founder of Manchester news site The Mill. “He has got lots of people’s hopes up.”

Though Burnham made his reputation in Manchester, he was actually born in Liverpool and grew up in a commuter village situated between those two rival cities in northwest England.

His father worked as a British Telecom engineer and his mother as a receptionist. He was raised in a tight-knit Catholic family. Burnham has described himself as “not particularly religious,” but says Catholic teachings and the center-left Labour Party shaped his values and commitment to social justice.

In a recent interview with the Times, Burnham expressed sadness that his father, who has Alzheimer’s, is unaware of his son’s historic achievement. “The way I look at it, it’s his achievement as well,” Burnham said. “A whole family achievement, although he doesn’t know it.”

Burnham and his brothers were the first in their family to attend university — and not just any university. He studied at Cambridge, one of England’s oldest and most esteemed institutions.

“He needed a lot of persuading to apply because he felt that as a working-class boy, going off to Cambridge wasn’t for him,” said Stephen Harrington, Burnham’s former English teacher at St. Aelred’s Catholic High School, in comments to the BBC. “He didn’t believe in himself. But he did it, and the rest is history.”

Burnham has spoken openly about feeling like an outsider at Cambridge, where many classmates had attended elite private schools in the wealthier south of England. Nevertheless, he earned a degree in English and met his future wife, Dutch fellow student Marie-France van Heel, now a marketing executive. The two wed in 2000 and together have a son and two daughters.

After finishing his studies, Burnham worked as a journalist for trade publications before shifting to roles as a researcher and adviser to Labour politicians.

He was elected to Parliament in 2001 representing the Manchester-area constituency of Leigh, and steadily rose through government ranks under Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Between 2007 and 2010, he served in Brown’s Cabinet, holding the positions of chief secretary to the Treasury, culture secretary, and health secretary.

A pivotal moment in his career came in 2009, when he was heckled while attending a memorial for the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster, in which 97 Liverpool soccer fans were crushed to death. Families of the victims had spent years fighting to correct a false police narrative that blamed unruly fans for the tragedy.

Burnham became a fierce advocate for those families, helping push for a new inquest, a formal apology, and legislation requiring public officials to be truthful about disasters regardless of any reputational damage to themselves or their institutions.

After Labour lost power in 2010, Burnham ran for the party’s leadership twice — in 2010 and again in 2015 — falling short both times. In 2017, with Labour at a low point nationally, he left Parliament to pursue the mayoralty of Greater Manchester.

The mayoral role suited him well. He demonstrated a talent for coalition-building, an eye for opportunity, and a strong practical streak. His governing philosophy became known as “Manchesterism” — a business-friendly form of socialism focused on channeling both public and private investment into areas like transportation, housing, and infrastructure.

Manchester, once a manufacturing hub widely credited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, had suffered greatly as British industry declined. Under Burnham’s leadership, the city experienced a revival, with new high-rise buildings rising on former industrial sites. He was also praised for bringing a fragmented public transit system under unified public control and improving its performance.

He traded in suits and ties for jeans and dark T-shirts, talked openly about his love for bands like Oasis, The Smiths, and New Order, and spent free time playing soccer or competing in DJ battles spinning 1990s music.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he publicly clashed with Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson over what Burnham called a “London-centric” approach to managing the crisis — one he argued was unfairly punishing cities in the north. That confrontation earned him the nickname “King of the North,” a reference to the television series “Game of Thrones” that spoke to both his regional advocacy and his broader political ambitions.

Burnham has described his time away from national government as “unfinished business,” and his opportunity came when Starmer was pressured to resign by Labour colleagues worried about the party’s declining popularity.

To return to Parliament, Burnham needed a seat. A sitting Labour lawmaker stepped down, triggering a special election in the Manchester-area constituency of Makerfield. Burnham handily defeated the candidate from the anti-immigration party Reform UK, reinforcing his image as an election winner.

When the contest to replace Starmer as Labour leader was held, Burnham was the sole candidate.

He now promises to deliver “a new politics based on unity and hope” and “an economy that works for everybody,” regardless of where they live. A central element of his agenda is expanding the powers of regional leaders, and he has announced plans to establish a satellite prime ministerial office — a “No. 10 North” — in Manchester.

Herrmann noted that Burnham possesses real strengths, particularly his ability to craft a compelling narrative and a level of empathy that sets him apart from many politicians. He added that Burnham holds “a set of principles about trying to make the country fairer, trying to bring people out of poverty, that he really does believe in.”

Critics, however, argue that Burnham’s policy positions are short on specifics — particularly around how he intends to fund his various commitments. He will also confront many of the same stubborn challenges that derailed Starmer, including a sluggish economy, strained public services, and a cost-of-living crisis. His lack of experience in foreign affairs — from the ongoing war in Ukraine to managing relations with U.S. President Donald Trump — is also seen as a vulnerability.

Still, Sacha Lord, a Manchester music entrepreneur who served as Burnham’s nighttime economy adviser, says the new prime minister has a tougher edge than many people realize. “He’s not scared of locking horns with people,” Lord said. “Everybody thinks Andy’s this nice, cheeky-chappy guy. But trust me, when he wants something … he tends to get it.”

Ukraine sent more than 400 drones toward the Russian capital overnight, Moscow’s mayor announced Monday, in one of the most significant drone offensives against the city since the war began.

The massive strike came just hours after Russian forces pounded Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles — the latest exchange in an ongoing cycle of retaliatory attacks that makes any prospect of a peace agreement seem increasingly remote, given that Russia’s full-scale invasion has now stretched past four years.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he planned to hold “key talks” as he works to manage a growing political crisis at home. The turmoil was triggered by a recent reshuffling of his government, which revealed a sharp divide between veteran military commanders and a younger generation of innovators over the best strategy for fighting the war.

At the center of the controversy is Zelenskyy’s decision to remove 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov from his role as defense minister while retaining 60-year-old Soviet-trained Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as the head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Zelenskyy now faces the challenge of convincing Ukrainians that those choices will not weaken the country’s war effort.

The decision sparked days of street demonstrations, with protesters voicing support for Fedorov and opposition to Syrskyi.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that the drone barrage began late Sunday and continued into the early hours of Monday morning. He said the majority of the drones were shot down well before reaching the city, with 85 intercepted in the immediate vicinity of Moscow.

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said 10 people sustained injuries in the attack. He also reported damage to several residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

According to Yevgeniya Khrustaleva, who heads the Domodedovo district of the Moscow region, the assault ignited a fire at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park, located roughly 30 kilometers — about 18 miles — south of Moscow.

The Astra news outlet reported that a fire broke out at an oil storage facility in Podolsk, approximately 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, south of Moscow, though Russian officials have not confirmed that report.

Ukraine’s drone capabilities have advanced rapidly throughout the conflict, creating a significant challenge for Russia, whose vast territory is difficult to fully defend. Ukrainian forces have made a point of targeting Russian oil infrastructure in particular, causing fuel supply disruptions and putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For context, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported in May that its air defense systems shot down 1,054 Ukrainian drones within a single 24-hour period.

While Ukraine continues to appeal to its international allies for advanced air defense systems capable of stopping ballistic missiles — which are far more difficult to intercept than drones or cruise missiles — Russian forces have been exploiting gaps in Ukraine’s defensive capabilities.

Russia has sharply increased its use of ballistic missiles in recent weeks. A Sunday bombardment using those weapons killed at least six people and wounded dozens more, according to Ukrainian officials.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, noted late Sunday that “Russian forces have launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine thus far in July than Russia reportedly produces each month.”

The organization added that “Russia appears to be dipping into its stockpiles to continue increasing the number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles have a higher success rate than drones and cruise missiles.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that overnight strikes targeted fuel storage tanks at the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched two missiles and 94 long-range drones at Ukrainian territory overnight. Of those, 81 drones were either jammed or shot down, while nine drones and one missile struck nine separate locations, causing damage.

European missile maker MBDA is rolling out a new defensive weapon aimed at stopping swarms of low-cost drones and munitions — a challenge that modern wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have made increasingly urgent.

The weapon, called the Counter Mass Interceptor, was set to make its public debut at the Farnborough Airshow in England on Monday. It is designed to give European militaries and NATO allies a homegrown option for defending against waves of cheap, mass-produced weapons.

An MBDA representative explained the gap in current European capabilities, telling Reuters: “Today in Europe, there is no sovereign system capable of addressing saturation.”

“That means that if we want to address this threat, we are forced to rely on non-European systems, whether American, Israeli or others,” the representative added.

Currently, the United States relies on systems like the precision-guided APKWS — the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System — which is produced by BAE Systems along with U.S. companies Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.

The economic challenge of modern drone warfare is significant. Shooting down an inexpensive drone often requires a missile that costs far more than the drone itself, straining both defense budgets and ammunition supplies.

Russia’s widespread deployment of Shahed drones against Ukraine, along with Iran’s use of the same drones in its conflict with the U.S., has underscored the urgent need for affordable, scalable countermeasures.

The first version of the interceptor is designed to take down smaller drones. MBDA plans to follow it with a second, longer-range interceptor capable of targeting not only drones but also rockets, gliding bombs, and subsonic missiles — and able to function in any weather conditions.

MBDA said its British teams are currently leading development of the program, though a future version is expected to be led by the company’s French division.

According to MBDA, an initial version of the interceptor could be available as early as 2028. The company said production could be handled either by industrial partners or directly through MBDA itself, using existing facilities and repurposed assembly lines.

“We are moving closer to an automotive-industry model. The goal is to be able to manufacture at scale,” the MBDA representative said.

Jose Simao traveled from Angola to Portugal in 2022 to work as a bricklayer, joining a broader wave of immigrants who had become a vital lifeline for the country’s severely understaffed construction industry. Now, his future in the country is uncertain.

“I did everything the authorities asked of me, and I’m here legally. But the government changed the rules. I’m afraid they’ll send me back,” Simao told Reuters.

Portugal’s increasingly strict immigration policies — driven in part by the government’s effort to blunt the rise of a growing far-right movement — are cutting off the labor supply that construction companies depend on, even as those same companies race to address one of the worst housing crises in Europe.

The country’s centre-right coalition government says it wants to put a stop to what it calls “uncontrolled inflows” of migrants while ensuring that those already living in Portugal have adequate living conditions. But construction executives and industry organizations say the new measures have deepened an already serious worker shortage, threatening efforts to build affordable housing and putting at risk a sector that accounts for nearly 8% of the national economy.

“The government has restricted immigration too much and too quickly given the country’s needs,” said Oscar Afonso, an economics professor at the University of Porto. “It was a political choice, but immigrants are essential to the economy.”

The roots of Portugal’s immigration boom stretch back to 2017, when the previous centre-left government allowed foreign workers to enter without work visas and later apply for residency after a year of employment with documented social security contributions. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of foreign residents more than doubled, reaching a record 1.6 million — about 14% of the total population.

These workers filled a critical gap in construction, a sector that had seen many of its Portuguese employees leave for higher-paying jobs in wealthier European Union countries. Today, foreign workers account for roughly 30% of the construction workforce.

But the surge in immigrant numbers also fueled the anti-immigrant Chega party, whose rising popularity traditional Portuguese political parties have found difficult to counter. In 2024, Portugal followed the lead of many other European nations and tightened its immigration rules after a shift toward a centre-right government, with one cabinet minister declaring at the time that “the time for an irresponsible policy is over.”

A study by the Bank of Portugal found that the new restrictions had already cut net immigration roughly in half, down to about 6,200 people per month in 2025 compared to the year before. Experts expect the numbers to fall further.

For the construction industry, the timing is especially difficult. Portugal faces a severe housing shortage, with new rental lease costs nearly doubling since 2017. The country’s central bank estimates a deficit of 300,000 homes across the nation — equivalent to the entire housing stock of the capital, Lisbon.

Portugal has committed to building 150,000 affordable homes by 2030 through a €9 billion ($10.3 billion) program backed by the European Union. But even with a 34% jump in construction jobs between 2020 and 2025, the industry is still short on workers.

Portugal’s largest construction association, AICCOPN, estimates the sector needs at least 80,000 more workers just to keep existing projects moving. Albano Ribeiro, head of the Construction Workers’ Union, warned the shortfall could grow to 120,000 jobs as major projects get underway — including Lisbon’s planned new airport, which alone is expected to require 10,000 workers.

The government introduced a fast-track visa program last year to help companies hire workers from abroad. However, firms are required to offer employment contracts and arrange adequate housing for incoming workers before they arrive. So far, only 5,000 construction visas have been issued under the program.

“The sector needs workers to build homes … yet builders must now secure housing for incoming immigrants,” said Joao Sousa, chief executive of JPS, one of Portugal’s largest developers. “If there are no homes for those already here, how can we provide housing for people coming to Portugal?”

About 90% of JPS’s workforce of roughly 700 to 800 people are foreign nationals. Smaller companies, builders and union officials say, have even less ability to arrange dormitory-style housing near often remote job sites.

The stricter rules are also threatening the status of many workers already living and working in Portugal, like Simao. Although he has an employment contract, his two-year residence permit is set to expire in August. Under the updated regulations, he must now present a formal rental contract to renew it.

Simao rents a room in Lisbon for €380 a month through an informal arrangement, but his landlord is unwilling to provide official payment receipts — leaving his renewal in jeopardy.

“I came here to improve my life and hoped to one day bring my mother to Portugal,” he said.

Meanwhile, other European countries facing similar labor shortages — including Spain and Italy — are moving in the opposite direction, working to regularize undocumented migrants or expand work visa programs.

JPS’s Sousa said he supports expanding training programs and raising wages to draw more Portuguese workers into the industry, but acknowledged that foreign labor remains essential. “Many projects could be delayed or cancelled unless the government adopts exceptional measures, as other countries have, to attract and retain migrants,” he said.

A Sunni Muslim cleric has been shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in a southeastern Iranian border town, according to reports from Iran’s state media citing local officials.

The victim, Molavi Mohammad Anvar Rigi, served as a Sunni Friday prayer leader in Mirjaveh, a town located near Iran’s southeastern border. The attack took place on Monday.

The incident occurred in Sistan-Baluchistan province, which is considered one of Iran’s poorest regions and is home to a significant Sunni Baluch population. The area has a long history of unrest, with Islamist and ethnic militant groups clashing with security forces and targeting individuals seen as aligned with the central government in Tehran.

Authorities confirmed that an investigation is underway and appealed to local residents to remain calm. Officials stated that the attack appeared to be designed to destabilize security in the region and inflame sectarian tensions within the province.

LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who now leads the Labour Party, is completing the final steps Monday to become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a single decade, taking over from Keir Starmer.

Burnham made his return to Parliament in June after winning a high-stakes special election, and he was officially sworn in as a member on July 12 — just hours after the widely unpopular Starmer announced he was stepping down following only two years as prime minister.

As part of the transition, Starmer will travel the roughly one mile from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace to formally inform King Charles III of his resignation.

Shortly after, the 56-year-old Burnham will make the same journey to the palace, where King Charles will ask him to form a government. That moment — traditionally referred to as “kissing hands” — is when Burnham will officially assume the role of prime minister.

Starmer came to power just two years ago when he led Labour to a sweeping election victory. However, his time in office quickly soured. A string of policy reversals and political missteps caused public support to collapse, and after devastating local election results in May, the Labour Party pushed him out.

Britain’s system of parliamentary democracy allows the party in power to swap out its leader mid-term, with the new leader automatically becoming prime minister — no general election required.

The next scheduled national election is not required until 2029, five years after the last one held in 2024, though Burnham has the option to call one earlier if he chooses.

Before the day wraps up, Burnham will likely come face to face with one of Downing Street’s most enduring residents — Larry the cat. The gray and white tabby has called the prime minister’s official home since 2011 and has outlasted six of Burnham’s predecessors.

Originally a stray taken in to deal with a rodent problem, Larry now holds court on Downing Street, frequently making appearances just as foreign dignitaries arrive. He was already spotted Monday morning, drawing attention in front of the iconic black door of No. 10.

Photographer Justin Ng, who has chronicled Larry more than almost anyone, put it simply: “Larry is the most stable thing in British politics.”

Ng added: “(He’s) like the night watchman of Downing Street. He’s looking out, looking out for people. People are reassured (by) his presence that things will carry on.”

Larry now has an official profile on the government’s website and boasts more than 900,000 followers on X. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte recently stopped by to greet him, and leaders across the board have been eager to be photographed at his side.

There is one potential wrinkle, however — Burnham also has a dog named Axel, who will now need to make peace with the famous feline.

The day’s events at Downing Street will begin with Starmer delivering a brief farewell address before heading to Buckingham Palace to submit his resignation to the king. Burnham will then be summoned to the palace, and upon his return, he will speak to the nation for the first time as prime minister, standing before the famous black door of 10 Downing Street.

Labour is hoping Burnham’s arrival marks the end of a turbulent era of rapid leadership changes. He will be the seventh prime minister the United Kingdom has had since 2016.

Russian military strikes have taken the lives of 28 people in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region since the start of July, the area’s regional governor announced on Monday.

Regional Governor Oleh Kiper described the ongoing assault during an appearance on Ukrainian television, painting a picture of relentless attacks on the region. “If you take since the beginning of July, the Odesa region was under constant daily shelling. There were days when 13-15 air raid alerts had been announced in the region,” Kiper said.

Rescue workers in southwestern China turned to explosives Monday in a desperate attempt to reach 34 people who have been missing for three days following a devastating landslide triggered by heavy rainfall in a region known for its scenic landscapes.

The landslide struck Friday in Penghui county, roughly 270 kilometers — about 168 miles — from the sprawling urban center of Chongqing. Eight people lost their lives in the disaster. China ranks among the world’s most landslide-prone nations.

Video footage broadcast by state television network CCTV showed rescue teams shattering a massive boulder during Monday’s blasting operation. The broadcaster reported that the operation had moved into a “deep rescue phase,” though no further immediate details were provided.

The rescue effort comes after President Xi Jinping called for scientifically guided search and rescue operations for those still unaccounted for, along with a rapid investigation into what caused the landslide.

More than 1,100 residents were evacuated from the county, which is home to approximately 500,000 people. Many of the area’s communities are built along steep hillsides overlooking the Wujian river. Images and video from the scene showed a section of the collapsed mountainside tumbling into the river, blocking the main street of the narrow hillside township.

Officials have deployed teams to assess hidden geological hazards and track the possibility of secondary disasters, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

With heavy to torrential rain in the forecast through Monday across several provinces, authorities are urging stronger protective measures in high-risk areas already made vulnerable by saturated groundwater and ongoing construction activity. CCTV reported Monday that eight small and medium-sized rivers across Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Anhui, and Shanghai are currently running above flood warning levels.

Experts point to a combination of intense summer rainfall, rapid urban development and construction, and frequent seismic activity as major contributors to China’s disaster risk. Mountains, hills, and plateaus account for roughly two-thirds of China’s total land area.

Over the past decade, at least five major landslides have claimed approximately 294 lives across the country. The deadliest of those incidents occurred in December 2015, when a massive mound of construction debris collapsed at an industrial park in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen, killing more than 70 people.

Russian officials announced Monday that Ukraine struck Moscow and the surrounding region with a wave of more than 400 drones overnight, leaving two people injured and igniting fires at several civilian sites.

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, posted on the Telegram messaging app that air defense forces and electronic warfare systems successfully pushed back the drone assault. He noted the most significant damage occurred in Podolsk, Domodedovo, and the Odintsovo district, where two people were hurt and multiple civilian infrastructure sites were set on fire or damaged.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that more than 400 “enemy drones” were launched toward the Moscow region during a window stretching from 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) to 5:00 a.m. (0200 GMT). The vast majority were intercepted by air defense systems at long range, with 85 drones shot down as they approached the Russian capital.

Wildberries, identified as Russia’s largest online retailer, announced Monday that its logistics center in the Podolsk district had been evacuated out of caution, though it later returned to normal operations.

The attack came just days after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on Saturday killed seven warehouse employees at a Wildberries facility and injured dozens of others. A separate strike that same day triggered a fire at an oil depot located in the broader Moscow region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that air defense systems destroyed 381 Ukrainian drones overnight across various Russian regions as well as over the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — There’s a grim joke that circulates among the people of Kyiv’s historic Lukianivka neighborhood: Russian attacks come so often that residents joke they should be handed military service papers, as if they were stationed on the front lines of the war.

When real estate agent Dmytro Zhekov tries to attract renters to one of the Ukrainian capital’s most frequently struck areas, he doesn’t sugarcoat the situation. His social media listings tout the neighborhood’s genuine advantages — lower rents, proximity to the city center, a convenient metro line and historic sites — but he leads with a warning.

“From the beginning I tell them, ‘This is a place in the danger zone. It gets hit regularly. If you are all right with that, then we can see it,’” he said.

At the heart of the danger is a Soviet-era weapons factory whose roof has been blackened by repeated bombardments, making it one of Russia’s most consistent targets in Kyiv. Just across the street, the Lukianivka metro station — which lends the neighborhood its name — has been struck at least eight times. During air raid warnings, that same station becomes a refuge for local residents. Craters have become a fixture of the surrounding streets.

For people living here, the question is no longer whether another strike will come, but when. Life in Lukianivka means reopening a shop next to the scorched remains of a market, cutting hair in buildings scarred by shrapnel, moving theater productions into basements and choosing to rebuild instead of flee.

Between attacks, residents sweep broken glass from the pavement, cover shattered windows with boards and press on. After another Russian missile barrage struck on Sunday, that familiar routine started all over again.

“After every attack, I walk down the main street, and it feels like watching a wound widen,” said resident Vladyslav Darmohrai.

Lukianivka’s central road, Dehtiarivska Street, traces a portion of the ancient Via Regia — the medieval trade route that once guided merchants into Kyiv over the course of centuries.

In later years, the neighborhood developed into a working-class area of factories, markets and the Lukianivka prison, whose notable inmates have included former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. She spent two and a half years behind bars after striking a gas agreement with Russia — a case widely seen as political payback by her rival, then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

The neighborhood has been shaped by successive chapters of history, from Soviet industrialization to Ukrainian independence and now relentless Russian bombardment. Today it also houses many residents who were displaced from other parts of the country by the war.

Ukraine’s first McDonald’s, which opened in Lukianivka in 1997, became an early emblem of the post-independence era. Today, diners eat beneath a plastic sign permanently warped by the heat generated from nearby Russian strikes.

“It’s part of our history now,” said historian Kyrylo Stepanets.

The neighborhood’s position as a historic crossroads gave birth to the Lukianivka market, which had served the community since the late 19th century — until a Russian strike on May 24 reduced it to ruins.

What remains is a charred labyrinth of stalls, frozen in the moment of destruction. Blackened loaves of bread still rest on the shelves of what was once a bakery.

For many locals, the market endures in memories of childhood — of being led by parents and grandparents through its bustling aisles to pick up fruit, flowers and everyday goods.

Alyona Lukianets, 32, spent 11 years growing her produce business there. When she returned after the strike, her stall was ash. Weeks later, she came back to work anyway.

Her new stall — cobbled together from wooden pallets and tarps outside the market’s burned-out shell — looks nothing like what she lost. Each morning, she still arranges her baskets of berries and fresh vegetables with the same attention to detail. The bitter smell of the destroyed market sometimes still drifts through the air behind her.

“I don’t know what it will take for us to leave this place,” Lukianets said. “We are unmovable.”

Julia Sosnovska had dreamed of having a dog ever since she moved into her Lukianivka apartment in 2022. Her landlords had refused for years. But after a devastating Russian strike in May, they finally agreed, and a brown dog named Perry became part of her life.

Displaced after Russia seized control of the southern city of Mariupol, Sosnovska chose Lukianivka for its low rents, even knowing her apartment looked out over the Artem weapons factory.

Rents in the neighborhood begin at under $200 per month for a studio. One-bedroom units start around $270, and two-bedroom apartments can be found for roughly $310.

The Artem plant was originally founded in the late 19th century as an industrial machinery facility. It eventually became one of the Soviet Union’s premier arms manufacturers before transitioning into a key part of Ukraine’s defense industry after independence. Production ramped up after Russian-backed forces began seizing territory in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the factory has become one of Moscow’s primary targets in the capital. Russia contends the plant is still manufacturing weapons. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that claim, with wartime restrictions preventing officials from commenting on military production.

Residents sometimes wonder whether it would be safer to move production elsewhere — but few believe that would help much, since Russian missiles have struck every district across Kyiv.

Instead, people have adapted to cleaning up after strikes. Some property owners even keep extra windowpanes on hand, according to Zhekov, the real estate agent.

When the latest barrage hit on Sunday, Sosnovska was jolted awake by a blinding flash outside her bedroom window, followed immediately by the sound of shattering glass. Her first thought was to find Perry, who had fled her bed in a panic. She grabbed the trembling dog along with her documents and laptop and joined neighbors sheltering in the building’s underground parking garage as more explosions rang out.

By morning, her apartment windows had been blown out and her car had been damaged. She counted herself lucky. “Glass is the least you can lose in these attacks,” she said.

Still, she is staying in Lukianivka. “Where else would I go? You never know which place will be next,” she said.

Vitalii Zhdaniuk opened a barber school in Lukianivka because he loved the area. The building is riddled with shrapnel marks, and a chunk of brick thrown from a nearby auto repair shop during a Russian strike last year is still lodged in the wall.

“No matter how many missiles fly here,” he said, “I’ll stay.”

Just behind the Lukianivka metro station sits the Mala Opera, a theater that has long been a cornerstone of Kyiv’s cultural scene. The threat of missile strikes has forced performances underground, leaving the main auditorium dark and empty.

It is in that basement space where Director Mykhailo Miskun is staging his newest production.

“When the war began, we set ourselves one task: to perform comedies,” Miskun said. “We want to lift the spirits of the people who come to us.”

His latest play centers on romance, relationships and squabbling neighbors — topics chosen deliberately to give audiences a brief mental escape from the war.

The company has adjusted to the ongoing threat by holding rehearsals online and gathering in smaller venues. After a recent Russian strike, the troupe briefly debated whether to leave. They chose to stay “despite everything,” Miskun said.

Outside, audience members line up to descend into the basement as the evening’s show prepares to begin.

“We live. We create. We give birth,” Miskun said. “Just like any part of Ukraine, Lukianivka is also being restored and continues to live.”

Torrential monsoon rains unleashed devastating floods and landslides across northern and northeastern India over the weekend, leaving at least 25 people dead, officials confirmed Monday. Forecasters are warning that the dangerous weather is far from over.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, at least 15 people lost their lives in separate rain-related disasters across the Poonch, Rajouri, and Doda districts, according to a senior police official. A number of additional residents are still unaccounted for.

The northeastern state of Nagaland was also hard hit, where relentless rainfall set off multiple landslides that killed nine people. Rescue teams have so far recovered four bodies, a senior district official told Reuters.

In the neighboring state of Assam, floodwaters claimed one life on Sunday. State disaster management officials reported that more than 57,000 residents spread across seven districts have been impacted by the severe rainfall.

India’s national weather office issued a warning on social media platform X, stating: “Active monsoon conditions are likely to persist over northwest, east and northeast India during the next 6–7 days.”

The deadly weather has also extended into Nepal, a neighboring Himalayan nation. Since the monsoon season began in mid-June, 27 people have been killed, one person remains missing, and 69 others have been injured due to floods, landslides, heavy rain, and lightning strikes, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

Several major roads in Nepal have been blocked by landslide debris, including the highway connecting the capital city of Kathmandu to the southern plains, police said Monday.

Nepal’s weather department called for light to moderate rainfall across most of the country Monday, with heavier rain expected at isolated spots in the Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, and Lumbini provinces.

For another month, China has kept its shipments of critical rare earth materials to Japan at virtually nothing, with new customs figures showing the diplomatic standoff between the two nations continues to take a serious economic toll.

According to Chinese customs data made public on Monday, China sent zero gallium, dysprosium, terbium, or yttrium to Japan in June. These controlled materials have been severely restricted for several months running.

Japan operates the largest rare earth magnet industry in the world outside of China, but the country depends heavily on Chinese sources for key raw material inputs — a vulnerability now being felt across multiple industries.

The trouble began after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks about Taiwan in November that triggered a diplomatic falling-out with Beijing. In the months that followed, China moved to tighten its grip on exports of these materials.

Beijing rolled out export controls on categories of heavy rare earths and the magnets made from them in April 2025. It then formally tightened restrictions targeting Japan in January, and tightened them again two more times the following month, with major Japanese conglomerates directly in the crosshairs.

Japanese businesses have been sounding the alarm, warning that the lack of access to these critical minerals is beginning to drag on the broader Japanese economy.

China’s ability to control these supply chains has given Beijing one of its most powerful tools in international diplomacy. The issue has even come up in recent negotiations involving U.S. President Donald Trump.

Gallium — a metal essential to chip and magnet manufacturing — had briefly returned to Japan in May with a large shipment, but exports fell back to zero in June. Meanwhile, yttrium, a rare earth used to shield turbine blades in aircraft engines and power plants from intense heat, also saw no shipments to Japan last month.

The U.S., which was also a major recipient of Chinese yttrium before the restrictions took hold, received none of the material for the second consecutive month.

Despite the targeted cutoffs, China’s overall rare earth magnet exports remained robust in June. The country shipped approximately 5,649 metric tons of magnets during the month, up from 4,730 tons in May.

Cyprus observed the 52nd anniversary of Turkey’s military invasion on Monday, as both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities braced for a renewed United Nations effort to end years of stalled peace negotiations.

In the southern, Greek Cypriot-controlled portion of the island, air raid sirens rang out Monday morning to mark the exact hour Turkish forces arrived in 1974 — a military operation that came just days after a brief coup backed by Greece.

Meanwhile, military ceremonies were held in the Turkish Cypriot north, a self-declared state that only Turkey officially recognizes.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to visit the island from July 27 to 29 in a bid to breathe new life into a peace process that has seen no meaningful negotiations in years.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides expressed cautious optimism ahead of the visit. “We hope the conditions will be created for the resumption of negotiations,” he said.

Progress toward peace has long been blocked by a fundamental disagreement over what a resolution should look like. Greek Cypriots want the island reunified as a federation, while Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership are pushing for recognition of two separate sovereign states.

The unresolved conflict continues to strain relations between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, and it also stands as a significant barrier to Turkey’s long-standing goal of joining the European Union — an organization Cyprus has belonged to since 2004.

The roots of the crisis stretch back to years of intercommunal tension and violence that followed Cyprus gaining independence from Britain. Turkey refers to its 1974 military action as a “peace operation” carried out to safeguard the Turkish Cypriot population.

NEW DELHI — Indian social activist Sonam Wangchuk is approaching 60 years old, yet he has emerged as the defining figure of a Gen Z movement calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s education minister, following widespread exam paper leaks. His cause gained even more visibility after authorities forcibly transported him to a hospital following three weeks of refusing food.

Wangchuk is widely believed to have inspired the central character in a major Bollywood film. He built his reputation campaigning on behalf of his home region of Ladakh, a Himalayan area that borders China. However, his hunger strike in protest of exam leaks that impacted millions of students across India has earned him a brand-new audience among young people, helping transform the issue into a broader generational movement that is putting pressure on Modi’s administration.

Even before Delhi police moved him to a hospital over the weekend — following his hunger strike in solidarity with supporters of the youth Cockroach Janta Party — people were already drawing comparisons between Wangchuk and India’s revered independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. Messages of support, both video and text, have poured in from across the country, including from Bollywood celebrities.

Speaking this month from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar protest site, Wangchuk addressed those comparisons directly: “It pains me when some say you’re the Gandhi of the 21st century, the modern Gandhi, you’re the real hero.”

He continued: “I am no Gandhi, no hero. I’m just an ordinary citizen who has not shied away from his responsibilities. Don’t look for a hero in others. Be the hero of your own life and fulfill your responsibilities.”

Affectionately referred to as “Sonam Sir” — the name Sonam translates to “merit” or “virtue” in some cultures — Wangchuk is one of the most prominent voices in Ladakh. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke is among those who use that endearing title. Wangchuk has spent his career championing education reform and water conservation in the high-altitude desert landscape of Ladakh. In 2018, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, a prestigious honor often referred to as Asia’s Nobel Prize, in recognition of that work.

Born in 1966 in the small, isolated village of Ulaytokpo in Ladakh, Wangchuk was just 19 years old and studying engineering at the government-run National Institute of Technology in Kashmir when he launched a tutoring program in foundational subjects like English and mathematics that helped hundreds of students. He later founded the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh.

As the effects of climate change began threatening water availability in the region, Wangchuk developed artificial glaciers he called “ice stupas” — cone-shaped ice formations that accumulate water during winter months and gradually melt in summer to provide irrigation, according to his Magsaysay Award citation.

In recent years, he has grown into a prominent voice for environmental protection and greater self-governance for Ladakh, which is currently a federally administered territory. He spent nearly six months behind bars in 2025 following deadly protests that called for Ladakh to be granted statehood. Wangchuk has denied any role in inciting the violence.

Indian media reported that his father, Sonam Wangyal, once served as a minister in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, and that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi played a role in ending one of his hunger strikes related to demands for affirmative action for people from Ladakh.

Wangchuk is married to Gitanjali J. Angmo, who also works in the field of education. He has previously stated that he is willing to die for the causes he believes in, including his demand that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down. Pradhan has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Reuters.

Wangchuk had previously stated his fast could stretch to six weeks — unless his body gave out first. “But hopefully we don’t have to go that far,” he said. “A sensitive government in a democracy listens to the pain of its people, and I hope they will take action.”

In the days before Delhi police intervened and moved him to the hospital, Wangchuk told Reuters: “Our demand for a resignation will bring some accountability to the system. At least, this will help restore trust in democracy.”

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin on Sunday, offering his thanks for North Korea’s role in what Moscow refers to as its special military operation, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

The meeting comes after North Korean troops played a significant part in helping Russia repel a large-scale Ukrainian military push into Russia’s western Kursk region in 2024.

Under a mutual defense agreement between the two countries, North Korea contributed approximately 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk.

Ukrainian troops had crossed the border into Kursk in August 2024, managing to hold onto considerable portions of territory for several months before being driven back.

During Sunday’s meeting, Choe conveyed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had recently reaffirmed his country’s dedication to the full development of its relationship with the Russian Federation, the Kremlin reported.

ESINELE, Nigeria — A Nigerian farmer spent nearly two months barely sleeping, haunted by the thought that he might never see his three young sons again. Al-Qaida-linked fighters had swept through his community and taken the boys — along with dozens of other children — in a mass abduction that shocked a part of Nigeria that had never before experienced such an attack.

His youngest son was only 5 years old at the time.

“The day they told us they had been rescued was the happiest day of my life,” said the farmer, Aliyu Saheed, speaking to The Associated Press as the children arrived back in their community on a Friday to celebrations filled with food, prayers, pastors, and Islamic clerics.

His three sons were among dozens of students taken from classrooms in the Oriire area of southwestern Oyo state on May 15. They were eventually freed on July 10.

The attackers seized children as young as 3 years old — an assault that has put much of Nigeria on alert about a threat steadily pushing southward through Africa’s most populated country over the past year. Armed groups, including jihadist factions, are expanding beyond the conflict-worn northern regions into areas that had largely been spared, driven by competition over territory and natural resources.

The armed men descended on the farming community and removed 39 children from three different schools, then marched them — along with their teachers — into a large nearby forest reserve. One teacher died during the abduction itself. According to local media reports, two more teachers were killed while in captivity.

That forest reserve is connected to the neighboring state of Kwara to the north, which borders Nigeria’s northern region — an area with a long and painful history of mass student kidnappings carried out by armed groups seeking ransom. Analysts note that children and schools are frequently chosen as targets because they generate more public attention and command higher ransom payments.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu identified the attackers as Ansaru militants — a splinter group of the Boko Haram organization that claims to act in defense of Islam and has grown more active in recent years. Authorities reported that the rescue was a joint effort involving the military, the national intelligence agency, and police. Eight kidnappers were taken into custody, while others were killed during the operation.

The incident cast a spotlight on Nigeria’s poorly monitored forest reserves, which armed groups have been using as corridors and hideouts.

“The thing to learn is that the forested areas of the country must be much better surveilled because that is where those armed groups operate and keep their victims,” said Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy firm Control Risks.

In conversations with the AP, both children and their parents described the brutal conditions they endured. Captors left the children outdoors without any shelter, exposed to both harsh sun and heavy rain.

Saheed’s oldest son, 9-year-old Shuaib, said he and his brothers coped by thinking about home and their mother’s food. They were given only boiled rice with palm oil to eat.

“I could not say anything for fear of getting beaten,” Shuaib said. “They flogged us with a cane all over the body, and they hit me in the back with the butt of their gun.”

Alamu Folawe, the head of one of the schools, told reporters that the militants actually beat the youngest children the hardest, and stuffed cloth into their mouths to keep their cries from being heard.

Families reported that some children came home with physical scars, and many are still working through the psychological damage.

Eight-year-old Kehinde Kaosarat, daughter of Aduke Balogun, was among the last children to be released from the hospital. Since returning home that Friday, she has not left her mother’s side.

While being held, the girl said she was unable to eat or sleep because “I kept imagining the worst things.”

Two siblings, Jacob and Mary, told their parents after being freed that they did not want to go back to school, according to their father, Gabriel Sunday. That reaction is not unusual following kidnappings in a country that already ranks among the highest in the world for the number of children not attending school.

“Sending them back to the school does not sound meaningful to me right now,” said Saheed, father of the three boys.

President Tinubu, who won election in 2023 on pledges to fix Nigeria’s security problems, has faced mounting criticism. The United States military has been providing support to Nigerian forces, though that assistance is largely limited to logistics and intelligence work concentrated in the more volatile northern regions.

While Tinubu claimed that the Ansaru militants’ informant network was broken up during the rescue operation, analysts caution that the root causes of instability — including corruption and weak governance — have not been addressed. Nigeria’s security forces, already stretched thin, are largely absent from remote communities.

James Barnett, a research fellow at the U.S.-based Hudson Institute who focuses on African security issues, said Ansaru has spent years quietly building networks in Nigeria’s southwestern region.

Experts warn that an attack perceived as successful could encourage further strikes.

The celebration welcoming the children home brought together both Christians and Muslims from the community for dancing and a shared meal of thanksgiving.

“We have all come here to thank God for protecting the children and their teachers and helping the military men who rescued them,” said Tajudeen Abioye, the village chief.

Many residents had fled the area after the kidnapping but have begun returning. Security forces remain deployed in the area, yet locals — particularly farmers whose fields border the forest reserve — are still living with fear.

“The rescue of the Oriire abductees is wonderful news and should inspire some confidence in Nigeria’s ability to better manage these threats. But it is not the end of insecurity in the southwest or Nigeria as a whole,” Barnett said.

SEOUL, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down with North Korea’s foreign minister at the Kremlin on Sunday, using the occasion to express appreciation for Pyongyang’s backing of his military campaign in Ukraine, according to reports from Russian state media.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui made the trip to Moscow without a clear diplomatic trigger — no major multilateral event or national anniversary appeared to prompt the visit. That unusual timing has led some observers to wonder whether she may be laying the groundwork for a potential trip to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korean state media confirmed Choe left for Russia on Saturday at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, but offered no explanation for the purpose of her journey.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, the government body responsible for North Korea-related affairs, said Monday that Seoul is keeping a close eye on the meetings. A ministry spokesperson, Yoon Min Ho, stopped short of saying whether Moscow and Pyongyang were discussing another leader-to-leader summit.

Russia’s Tass news agency reported that during the Kremlin meeting, Putin praised the state of relations between the two countries and once again expressed his “gratitude to the North Korean leadership and people” for their support of Russia’s military operations against Ukraine. For her part, Choe conveyed to Putin that Kim remains dedicated to the “comprehensive development” of ties with Russia, according to Tass.

Kim has previously traveled to Russia’s Far East for summits with Putin, meeting in both 2019 and 2023. During a June 2024 summit held in Pyongyang, Putin extended a fresh invitation for Kim to visit Russia, and the two leaders signed a strategic partnership agreement committing each side to mutual assistance in the event of an attack.

In recent years, Kim has made Russia the centerpiece of his foreign policy agenda. He has dispatched thousands of soldiers and large quantities of weapons to bolster Putin’s war effort in Ukraine — moves that some analysts believe are being rewarded with economic assistance and technology transfers that could be strengthening North Korea’s own military capabilities.

Kim has also been working to deepen his country’s relationship with China. He hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a June summit in Pyongyang, aligning himself with the concept of a “new Cold War” and positioning North Korea as part of a broader coalition opposing Washington.

Choe’s Moscow visit followed a flurry of diplomatic activity between North Korea and China. This month, North Korean Cabinet premier Pak Thae Song — Kim’s leading economic official — traveled to Beijing to meet with Xi, while Wang Huning, a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee, made a visit to Kim in Pyongyang.

Kim cut off all substantive dialogue with both the United States and South Korea following the breakdown of his nuclear negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019. He has since used Russia’s war in Ukraine as cover to speed up development of his nuclear weapons and missile programs, while insisting that Washington drop its demand for North Korean denuclearization before any talks can resume.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Imagine pulling up to a gas station, reaching for your wallet, and being told the attendant won’t accept your cash — not because there’s a problem with your money, but because the station’s bank has literally run out of room to store it.

That scenario is playing out across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Palestinian banks have accumulated far more Israeli shekels than they can handle. Rather than a shortage of money, the territory is facing the opposite problem: a massive cash surplus that is grinding commerce to a halt.

At the center of the crisis is a standoff between the Bank of Israel and the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which regulates Palestinian financial institutions. Israel places a ceiling on how much physical currency it will accept back from the West Bank’s banking system. Palestinian officials argue that limit hasn’t kept up with economic growth and is being used as a tool to keep the territory in a perpetual state of financial distress.

Mohammad Manasra, the deputy governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, told the Associated Press that the situation has left financial institutions without the ability to function normally. “The banks have been shackled” in their ability to deal with the crisis, he said. “What is being practiced in the West Bank is economic warfare.”

In a typical economy, a central bank accepts physical currency from commercial banks and credits them electronically, allowing those banks to process payments, make loans, and handle customer transfers. But the West Bank operates under a different set of rules. Palestinians have no authority over monetary policy governing the shekel, and the territory has depended on Israeli financial systems for decades under agreements reached in the 1990s.

More shekels flow into the West Bank than can flow out. Workers employed by Israeli businesses and settlements are paid in cash. Palestinian citizens of Israel frequently cross into the West Bank to buy goods like cigarettes and fuel, bringing even more currency with them. That money piles up inside Palestinian banks, where it sits idle — earning no interest and unable to be converted into loans, investments, or electronic payments.

Israel’s current cap allows the West Bank banking system to return 18 billion shekels — roughly $5.9 billion — per year to the Bank of Israel. But banks are now taking in an estimated 30 billion shekels annually, according to Moayad Afaneh, an economist who has advised the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli officials have previously cited concerns about money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorism as reasons for limiting how much cash they accept back. The Bank of Israel said in a statement that it follows the current government’s policy on shekel transfers, and noted that fewer Palestinians have worked in Israel since the Gaza war began, which has reduced the flow of cash into the West Bank.

The office of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did not respond to requests for comment, but in September 2025, Smotrich threatened to use “all of the tools” at his disposal to block the formation of a Palestinian state, including what he described as “economic strangulation.”

Since Hamas-led militants launched their attack in October 2023, triggering the war in Gaza, Israel has enacted a series of measures that have weakened the West Bank economy. Most work permits for Palestinians employed in Israel were revoked, eliminating a key income source. Tax and customs revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority have been withheld, leaving the Authority unable to fully pay public sector workers — including teachers and hospital employees — for more than a year.

As vault space runs short, banks are paying to store and insure cash they cannot move. They have begun turning away deposits from businesses and households, which are then left scrambling to safely store their own money. Fears of looting during Israeli military raids — which have become more frequent — have pushed more Palestinians to deposit cash in banks to protect it from potential confiscation, worsening the bottleneck, Afaneh said.

Manasra said the cash overflow is “directly affecting the government’s ability and the private sector’s capacity to continue providing services to major industrial sectors and the Palestinian people.” He pointed out that most of the West Bank’s fuel and electricity comes from Israel or Israeli utilities, and when banks are overloaded with physical cash, they lack the electronic funds needed to process those essential payments.

A 2022 International Monetary Fund study found that excess cash had cut Palestinian banks’ profits by roughly 20%. Afaneh said that figure is likely considerably higher today.

Inside the Ramallah offices of the Al-Huda Group — a company that runs filling stations, convenience stores, grocery outlets, home improvement shops, car washes, and other businesses — clerks feed banknotes through counting machines that stack the bills into neat bundles. The company takes in tens of millions of shekels each month.

Hussni Jaber, the executive manager of Al-Huda Group, said the inability to deposit that cash has made routine business operations more complicated and costly. Some businesses have resorted to taking out loans or purchasing foreign currencies just to make electronic payments to suppliers, all while spending more to securely store their excess cash on-site.

When suppliers go unpaid, some gas stations are forced to stop pumping fuel altogether. The Palestinian Authority referenced the issue when gas stations temporarily closed on a recent Saturday. Last month, gas station owners — including the 22 locations operated by Al-Huda — staged a coordinated 30-minute strike across the West Bank to draw attention to the crisis. So far, it has produced little response.

Jaber warned that if the problem isn’t resolved, West Bank businesses will eventually lose the ability to import fuel, food, and medical supplies from Israel and other countries. “All sectors will collapse if the cash problem is not resolved,” he said.

LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham’s moment has arrived. After spending weeks as the anticipated next leader of the United Kingdom, Burnham is set to be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, taking over from outgoing leader Keir Starmer in what is expected to be an orderly and well-practiced transfer of power.

Burnham will become the seventh person to hold the office of UK prime minister since 2016, having replaced Starmer as the head of the center-left Labour Party on Friday.

A spokesperson confirmed that in his first address as prime minister, Burnham plans to acknowledge that he is “acutely aware” of how many leadership changes the nation has experienced over the past decade, and will commit to bringing stability back to British politics.

Starmer made similar promises when he assumed office two years ago. Last month, he announced his resignation following a series of missteps and poor judgment calls that had damaged his standing within the party and among the broader public.

Burnham ran unopposed in the Labour leadership race, earning nominations from 379 of the party’s 403 members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Monday’s transition will follow a familiar script. Starmer will travel the roughly one mile from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace to formally notify King Charles III of his resignation. Shortly afterward, Burnham will make the same journey, where the king will invite him to form a government — a ceremony historically referred to as “kissing hands,” though no actual hand-kissing takes place.

The tradition traces its roots to an era when the monarch held supreme authority and personally selected the prime minister. Today, the king holds no political power, but the monarchy still officially extends the invitation to the leader of whichever party commands a majority in the House of Commons.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system, a governing party can swap out its leader — and therefore the prime minister — without triggering a nationwide election. The next general election is not required until 2029, though Burnham has the option to call one earlier if he chooses.

After his palace visit, Burnham will head to Downing Street, where tradition calls for new prime ministers to deliver a brief speech outside the official residence.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester has promised to make politics “less toxic,” raise living standards across the nation, and “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”

“I will work to build a new politics,” he said upon being named Labour leader on Friday. “The country is crying out for it.”

Both supporters and critics are expected to quickly press Burnham for specifics on how he intends to deliver on those promises.

“Fundamentally, it only will work if you can generate significant economic growth, because it’s the lack of growth that’s really holding the country back,” said Joshi Herrmann, who has covered Burnham’s career as the founder of Manchester news site The Mill.

Much of the early attention will focus on who Burnham selects for his Cabinet. He is widely expected to shake up Starmer’s top team, particularly in the key roles of Treasury chief, foreign secretary, and home secretary. As of Friday, Burnham said he had not yet finalized those decisions.

In his first speech as Labour leader, Burnham credited Starmer’s record, saying he would “build on the foundation laid” by his predecessor.

Starmer had taken over Labour leadership in 2020 following the party’s worst-ever election defeat, and went on to lead it to a sweeping victory four years later. However, the challenges of governing proved difficult to manage.

At his final Prime Minister’s Questions session in Parliament on Wednesday, Starmer defended his government’s track record on the world stage — highlighting support for Ukraine — as well as domestic accomplishments including stronger worker protections, reduced child poverty, legislation aimed at preventing official cover-ups following tragedies, and increased defense spending.

“I am proud to leave this country in a better shape than I found it,” he said.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators supporting India’s youth-driven Cockroach movement assembled Monday in an attempt to march on Parliament, calling for the education minister to step down — even as police refused to authorize the protest.

A heavy police presence surrounded the barricaded gathering area at Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi, setting the stage for a potential standoff just a short distance from Parliament as protesters pushed forward with their plans.

The crowd was a mix of students, working professionals, and families — some with small children in tow. Many came prepared for a lengthy day, carrying backpacks stocked with food and water, while others waved Indian flags. Officers used loudspeakers to urge the crowd to leave, but demonstrators responded with chants directed at the education minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Cockroach Janta Party was born in May after the country’s Supreme Court chief justice, during an unrelated court proceeding, compared certain unemployed young people to “cockroaches.” Rather than taking offense, supporters reclaimed the term, building a satirical movement that has since attracted millions of followers across social media platforms.

The movement picked up steam following a series of leaks involving high-stakes entrance exams for medical school admissions and government employment, which fueled widespread public outrage. It gained even more attention after activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike, was taken to a hospital by police on Saturday.

Self-described “cockroaches” have maintained a presence at Jantar Mantar for the past month, with members of various student organizations joining Wangchuk’s hunger strike. Large crowds have also rallied at universities and in cities across the country. Their demands include the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, an overhaul of the exam system, and financial compensation for families of students who died by suicide following the exam leaks.

Prior to the march, Wangchuk stated he would only end his nearly three-week hunger strike under two conditions: if the government formally acknowledged responsibility for failures in the education and exam systems, or if protesters were permitted to reach Parliament and legislators committed to raising the issues in both legislative chambers.

Delhi Police maintained that the march lacked proper authorization and that security restrictions around Parliament were necessary to preserve public order during the monsoon legislative session, which opened Monday.

The protests have emerged as one of the more significant public challenges to Prime Minister Modi’s Hindu nationalist government during its current third term, drawing backing from opposition political figures, human rights advocates, and some Bollywood celebrities. Many demonstrators argue that opportunities to voice dissent have narrowed under Modi’s administration, which has faced criticism for cracking down on public demonstrations through arrests of activists and, in certain cases, forceful police responses.

Top officials in Modi’s government have pushed back firmly against the movement. Education Minister Pradhan has gone so far as to accuse the protesters of working against the country’s interests, while other cabinet members have acknowledged student grievances but ruled out any formal dialogue with movement leaders.

Jyoti Rajput, a yoga teacher who joined the protests, explained her reasons for showing up: “This rotten system refuses to take action.”

“It cannot see the pain of students, and that’s why so many people have joined this movement,” she added.

NEW YORK — One of the most powerful drug lords in modern history is set to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in a Brooklyn federal court, where a life prison term is all but guaranteed following his guilty plea to drug trafficking charges last year.

The sentencing represents the conclusion of a years-long effort by U.S. authorities to bring Zambada — long considered one of the most elusive figures in the global drug trade — into American custody. He was taken into custody in 2024 after he claimed he was kidnapped in Mexico and transported by plane to Texas.

Prosecutors described Zambada as a ruthless operator who ordered torture and plotted killings as he and fellow co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel into the largest drug trafficking organization on the planet, pumping massive quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and other narcotics into the United States.

While Guzmán was known for his flashy persona, Zambada was regarded as the cartel’s behind-the-scenes strategist and deal broker, more deeply embedded in the organization’s daily operations. Guzmán was convicted in 2019 and is currently serving a life sentence at the federal Supermax facility in Florence, Colorado.

Zambada entered his guilty plea in August 2025 after prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty. Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, he offered an apology “to everyone who has suffered or been affected by my actions.”

Now 76 years old, Zambada has requested placement in a federal prison hospital, citing significant health concerns. His defense attorney, Frank Perez, noted in a sentencing memo that Zambada “contends with a complex of age-related health issues” and “will need ongoing access to medical care.”

Federal prosecutors, however, urged Judge Brian M. Cogan to weigh “the serious ongoing security risks” that Zambada presents, warning that certain facilities “may not be appropriate for the security concerns posed.” While judges can recommend where a prisoner serves time, the ultimate decision rests with the federal Bureau of Prisons.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors called Zambada “one of the most — if not the most — prolific and powerful narcotraffickers in the world,” adding that “it would be difficult to overstate the magnitude” of his crimes and the widespread “corruption, violence, and other harm he spread throughout Mexico, the United States, and the world.”

In addition to a life sentence, Zambada faces $15 billion in financial penalties — a figure prosecutors say reflects the cartel’s earnings under his direction.

He pleaded guilty to running a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, admitting responsibility for 85 underlying offenses. From 1980 until last year, he acknowledged that he and the cartel were responsible for moving at least 1.5 million kilograms of cocaine, “most of which went to the United States.”

Zambada also admitted to the cartel’s sprawling infrastructure, including operatives who cultivated ties with Colombian cocaine producers, arranged shipments into Mexico by sea and air, and coordinated smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. He said the cartel brought in hundreds of millions of dollars annually and acknowledged that his subordinates paid large bribes to Mexican officials “so they could operate freely.”

Prosecutors said that in the months before his arrest, Zambada ordered the killing of his own nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro — also known as “Cheyo Antrax” — after discovering that Castro had been collecting debts in Zambada’s name and keeping the money for himself.

In 2023, at least three people were killed in retaliatory violence that Zambada directed after a large supply of fentanyl pills, methamphetamine and cocaine was stolen from the cartel, according to prosecutors.

Zambada’s attorney says his client was beaten, bound, abducted and forced onto a private aircraft by one of Guzmán’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López. The arrests of both men set off deadly conflict within Sinaloa, with Zambada’s supporters clashing violently against backers of Guzmán’s sons, a faction known as the Chapitos, or “little Chapos.”

Defense attorney Perez argued that Zambada’s decision to plead guilty — rather than go to trial as Guzmán did — should be taken into account. Guzmán’s trial was an 11-week proceeding that required shutting down the Brooklyn Bridge to transport him between court and jail.

“Mr. Zambada’s unequivocal acceptance of responsibility has been a defining feature of his conduct since his involuntary arrival in the United States,” Perez wrote.

Perez also argued that placing Zambada in the same Supermax facility as Guzmán would ignore the significance of his client’s cooperation. “For Mr. Zambada to end up not only with the same life sentence as Mr. Guzman, but also in the same draconian Supermax prison, would fail to account in any way for the fact that he took the right path in resolving the charges against him,” Perez wrote.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Early Monday morning, the United States carried out a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iran, hours after military officials announced the death of another American service member. Iran fired back, launching an attack against Bahrain — the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

The latest round of strikes marks the ninth straight night of U.S. military action, and the escalating exchange between Washington and Tehran is pushing the two nations ever closer to full-scale war. A temporary agreement reached last month to end the fighting has fallen apart, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has nearly ground to a halt. Both countries have struck civilian infrastructure that millions of people depend on. Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude oil climbed past $90 per barrel Monday, adding to an already severe global energy crisis driven by the ongoing conflict.

According to the U.S. military, the American service member died in Iraq on Saturday during what officials described as a “controlled detonation” of an Iranian drone that had been shot down.

President Donald Trump addressed the strikes, saying, “We hit them very hard again tonight. And we did that in honor of the” soldiers who lost their lives.

The U.S. military’s Central Command confirmed the new strikes and said they focused on “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.” Iran did not immediately report any casualties or damage, though Iranian state media said residents in southern and northwestern parts of the country heard explosions.

As the strikes got underway, a vessel caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz near the Omani coastline early Monday, according to the British military. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear. Oman’s waters have been a path the U.S. military has urged ships to use to avoid Iranian-controlled areas. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said it was targeting tankers in the strait.

Iran has continued to strike back against U.S.-allied nations across the Middle East. Trump has threatened to go after Iran’s power stations and bridges in an effort to pressure Tehran into releasing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, which once carried about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil before the war broke out. Recent strikes suggest the military is now following through on that threat.

Over the past week, the U.S. has reinstated a naval blockade on Iranian ports to cut off its crude oil exports. As of Saturday, the military said it had redirected six ships and disabled one vessel since the blockade resumed.

More than 30 days have now passed in the 60-day window established by the earlier deal — time set aside to work out a permanent end to the war and address other matters, including Iran’s nuclear program.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that the United States remains willing to negotiate with Iran, but stressed that any talks “have to be real.”

“We’re going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy — if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system, or take control of the negotiations — that’ll be a very positive development,” Rubio said. “That’s not where we are tonight, unfortunately.”

Iranian officials reported Sunday that at least 50 people have been killed and 517 others wounded in the most recent rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the conflict began on February 28, a total of 17 U.S. service members have died.

Taiwan’s coast guard is sounding the alarm after detecting a sharp jump in Chinese government vessel activity around the island last month, with officials warning the pattern could signal preparations to cut off Taiwan’s vital Pacific supply lines.

According to Taiwan Coast Guard data, authorities spotted 55 Chinese government vessels — including coast guard ships and research boats — operating around Taiwan in June. That’s up from 30 sightings in May and represents an 83% increase month over month. Compared to June of last year, when 25 sightings were recorded, the figure has risen by 120%. Those numbers do not include sightings near Taiwan-controlled islands located close to the Chinese coast.

The data highlights the growing role China’s coast guard is playing in Beijing’s ongoing pressure campaign against Taiwan — a campaign that has drawn concern from Western nations including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.

While China’s military conducts operations near Taiwan on an almost daily basis, Beijing has increasingly deployed its coast guard to reinforce territorial claims. Taiwan officials refer to this tactic as “lawfare” — using legal-seeming actions to establish a basis for Chinese authority around the island.

A senior Taiwan Coast Guard official, speaking on the condition of anonymity at a recent briefing, said the activity points to a serious wartime concern: that China could be practicing how to sever Taiwan’s Pacific connections to its allies.

“If the situation escalates to a blockade — or what would already amount to a quasi-war — we have plans to work with the navy to jointly protect Taiwan’s lifeline sea routes,” the official said.

The official added: “We have anticipated this scenario not only through tabletop exercises but also through live drills.”

China’s defense ministry and its Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Beijing does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and considers the democratic island part of China. Taiwan rejects that position, asserting that Beijing has no right to claim authority over the island or its surrounding waters, and that only the Taiwanese people have the right to determine their own future.

Officials also revealed that some of China’s coast guard ships were originally naval destroyers that have since been repainted and repurposed for coast guard operations. A senior coast guard official said this makes them a more serious threat to Taiwan’s own fleet due to their larger size, greater range, and military-grade equipment.

Chinese coast guard vessels have also begun operating in pairs just outside Taiwan’s economic waters in the Pacific — a vast area that is stretching Taiwan’s comparatively small coast guard thin.

“This places a major strain on the capacity of Taiwan’s coast guard vessels,” the official said.

A second senior official described the Chinese activity as “expansion” and an attempt to alter the existing balance of power in the region. That official also noted that Chinese coast guard ships have been broadcasting messages to commercial vessels, asking them for information about port arrivals and departures — putting pressure on merchant shipping even though no ships have changed course in response.

Taiwan has responded by broadcasting its own messages to those ships, instructing them to continue normal navigation and disregard Chinese interference.

“It knows it has no jurisdiction now, so it is trying to create something out of nothing,” the second official said, also speaking anonymously.

A. Shrinikheathan is doing something his family has never done before — skipping the United States for his graduate education and heading to Germany instead.

The 22-year-old engineering graduate from Chennai is currently studying German and preparing for a language proficiency exam as he applies to master’s degree programs there. He’s drawn by Germany’s comparatively low tuition costs and its deep ties to the engineering industry.

His choice is part of a broader pattern. A growing number of young Indians are reconsidering the traditional path to American universities, with a new India-EU trade deal offering clearer routes to study and work in Europe — while U.S. immigration policies have become more restrictive. That’s the picture painted by roughly a dozen students and education consultants interviewed for this story.

“The world is becoming more multi-polar. Earlier, the U.S. was all that everyone was talking about,” Shrinikheathan said, adding that he was glad to have options beyond the “wildly more expensive” United States and Canada.

If the trend holds, it could fundamentally change where Indian students go to study, with Europe stepping up as a serious competitor to North America — and the EU actively seeking young talent to fill labor gaps created by an aging population.

According to education consultancy KC Overseas, tuition fees at European universities typically run 50% to 80% lower than those in the United States, with living expenses also considerably cheaper.

“The European Union has become a leading destination for Indian students,” an EU official said in a statement. “Indian students bring entrepreneurial spirit, cultural richness, and research excellence.”

The official continued: “(Indian students enrich) European campuses while deepening EU-India ties in innovation, trade, and diplomacy … this trend will continue to grow, benefiting Europe’s talent pool and India’s globally competitive workforce.”

India’s total number of students studying abroad dropped to around 626,000 in 2025, down sharply from more than 908,000 in 2023, according to government data. Students have grown wary of stricter visa requirements and higher costs in the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom. Last week, Washington moved to shorten the length of visas for international students as part of a sweeping immigration crackdown that began after Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

Interest in Europe has picked up since the India-EU trade agreement reached in January, which aims to simplify the process for Indian students and skilled workers to move to Europe through streamlined visa pathways, clearer post-graduation work options, and better recognition of Indian academic credentials.

“The EU-India mobility framework is part of a broader set of initiatives aiming to make the EU a global magnet for attracting and retaining talent, including for Indian students and talent,” the EU official said.

“For the first time, a major economic bloc is saying, ‘We want Indian talent at scale,’” said Arnav Kumar, co-founder of study-abroad platform Leap.

India and the EU plan to work together over five years on social security agreements with member nations, starting with a tech-focused office to support Indian students and professionals navigating the system.

“Indian students have been growing in Europe without any overarching framework. Now, we have structured pathways from education to employment,” Kumar said, predicting a 60% to 70% increase in student and worker movement over the next three to five years.

Education consultants say students are increasingly aligning their destination choice with their career ambitions and personal preferences — picking Germany for engineering, the Netherlands for work-life balance, Portugal for affordable postgraduate research, and France for management studies.

The possibility of traveling and working freely across EU member countries, along with a growing number of English-language graduate programs, is also pulling Indian students toward Europe.

Education consultancy Europe Study Centre has seen inquiries rise 25% to 30% since the trade deal was announced. Director Sivaraman Pandian described Europe as the “red-hot destination” for families put off by climbing costs and tougher visa requirements elsewhere.

More than 121,000 Indians currently study within the EU — roughly half the number enrolled in the United States — but the bloc has been steadily gaining ground as a preferred destination alongside the U.S., Canada, and Australia, government data showed.

Still, significant hurdles remain. Pandian cautioned students against unrealistic expectations: “If somebody says you will get a job in this country, don’t blindly believe it. Just because you studied in that country, it does not entitle you to get a job. You study, and you develop a skill-set; your doors are open.”

Students also pointed to language barriers, housing shortages in major cities like Amsterdam, stiff competition in the job market, and the need for specialized skills as ongoing concerns. Some also noted worries about the rise of far-right political movements and shifting attitudes toward foreigners in parts of Europe.

Early enrollment data, however, suggests real momentum. Indian student enrollment in the Netherlands climbed to roughly 3,700 in the 2025-26 academic year, up from 2,630 in 2018-19, making Indians the third-largest non-EU student group, according to Statistics Netherlands.

Eindhoven University of Technology reported approximately 2,140 pre-enrollments from India for the upcoming academic year, compared to about 1,390 the year before. Leiden University saw its Indian intake in standard master’s programs jump to 120 this year from 70 in 2021. Italy’s Padua University said partner agencies in India are reporting rising interest in European programs, including from regions that have traditionally sent students to the United States.

Whether the surge in inquiries translates into lasting enrollment growth will depend largely on how effectively the new agreement is put into practice.

Chennai-based engineer T Suthir, who is looking into colleges in the Czech Republic and Italy, said the change in attitude is already noticeable. “Earlier, before the deal was finalised, my family was saying Europe is not good,” he said. “Now, they are saying it’s good.”

MANILA, Philippines — The leading diplomats of Southeast Asia are convening in the Philippine capital this Tuesday, joined by counterparts from Western and Asian nations including the United States, China, Russia, and the European Union, with the conflict involving Iran topping the list of urgent concerns.

The gathering is the annual ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN. The Philippines, which holds the chairmanship of the 11-nation bloc this year, is hosting the three-day sessions in Manila.

Among those attending are U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, has been invited to a Friday ceremony marking a 1976 nonaggression treaty tied to ASEAN, though he will not be part of the main ASEAN sessions that Rubio and Lavrov are attending. Neither Rubio nor Lavrov has announced any plans to hold meetings with each other or with Sybiha while in Manila.

Before the broader multilateral discussions begin, ASEAN foreign ministers are scheduled to meet among themselves Tuesday. A central topic will be the hostilities between the United States and Iran, which have spread to other parts of the Middle East and raised fears of an all-out war resuming. Two Southeast Asian diplomats told the Associated Press that the ministers plan to release a joint statement expressing serious concern and calling on both parties to return to the negotiating table.

The conflict has once again put shipping through the Strait of Hormuz at risk — a critical waterway through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supplies moved before the war broke out.

Southeast Asia, a region home to more than 680 million people, depends significantly on oil and gas from the Middle East and has been hard hit by supply disruptions and price spikes tied to the Iran conflict. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency in March to safeguard the availability of fuel, food, and other essential goods and to crack down on hoarding and price gouging.

There are also growing concerns that Washington’s military focus on the Iran conflict has drawn attention away from Asia-Pacific issues — particularly China’s assertive moves in the contested South China Sea and toward Taiwan, areas where the Trump administration has pledged to push back. Rubio’s participation in the ASEAN meetings is intended to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the region.

State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in Washington: “The secretary’s visit advances a clear U.S. priority: a free and open Indo-Pacific that delivers safety, security and prosperity for the region and for the American people.”

On the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings, Rubio is expected to participate in a session of the Quad — a grouping made up of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia that was first formed in 2007. The Quad is widely seen as a key piece of the American strategy to counter China’s influence, and Beijing has repeatedly criticized it as an effort to contain its rise.

Beyond conflicts outside the region, ASEAN foreign ministers are also under mounting pressure to take stronger action on crises within Southeast Asia itself — particularly Myanmar’s ongoing civil war and the territorial disputes simmering in the South China Sea.

Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. Since then, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights-monitoring organization, more than 8,100 people have died in the fighting and nearly 22,500 remain detained.

A five-point peace plan that ASEAN leaders put forward in 2021 has not succeeded in halting the bloodshed, largely because Myanmar’s military-backed government has refused to comply. As a result, the bloc has barred Myanmar’s leaders and foreign minister from its high-level meetings, including this week’s sessions in Manila.

In an effort to move past the deadlock, ASEAN foreign ministers led by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro met Myanmar’s top diplomat for the first time in five years earlier this month in Bangkok. At that meeting, they renewed calls for a reduction in violence and pushed for dialogue among all factions involved in the conflict. The following day, Lazaro — in her role as ASEAN’s special envoy — and Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow held consultations with high-level representatives of ethnic armed groups from Myanmar in the Thai resort city of Pattaya.

The decision to meet with Myanmar’s foreign minister, Tin Maung Swe, drew sharp criticism from human rights organizations, who argued it effectively undermined the bloc’s ban on engaging with the country’s senior officials and gave the military government a diplomatic win without requiring any concessions in return.

Lazaro pushed back on that characterization, saying: “It was not and should not be mischaracterized as an abandonment of the five-point consensus. The path to peace can only be obtained through resolute diplomacy with all parties to the conflict.”

The ASEAN foreign ministers are also set to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila to assess progress on negotiations over a proposed “code of conduct” for the South China Sea — an agreement designed to keep long-standing territorial disputes from escalating into open conflict.

The disputes involve China, Taiwan, and the ASEAN member states of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In recent years, tensions between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces in the contested waters have grown particularly sharp.

NEW DELHI — Hundreds of demonstrators backing India’s youth-driven “Cockroach” movement descended on the nation’s capital Monday, pushing forward with a march toward parliament even after police refused to grant permission for the demonstration.

The movement, which has been building for months, is being viewed as the most significant public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he began his third term in office. It has attracted millions of followers on social media and has been gaining momentum on the ground as well.

The protest gained fresh energy after activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcibly transported to a hospital by police on Saturday. Thousands of supporters streamed into the protest site at Jantar Mantar in central New Delhi throughout the night, arriving in time for the march on the same day parliament opened its monsoon session.

Heavy barricades lined the protest area, with scores of police officers and paramilitary personnel stationed nearby — setting up a potential standoff just a few kilometers from parliament if demonstrators attempted to push forward.

Crowds chanted “Quit, quit” — calling on both Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Prime Minister Modi to step down.

The Cockroach Janta Party, known as CJP, was born out of public outrage after national medical school entrance exam papers were leaked in May. The breach impacted more than two million students who were forced to retake the test.

“All these leaders in power are illiterate and I am here to protest because we do not want question papers to leak,” said Adi Nathan, a 21-year-old student from Meerut, a city roughly 100 kilometers from the capital. “This should come to an end.”

Mohammed Tabrez, 22, said he traveled from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh state — approximately 165 kilometers away — to take part. He is preparing for competitive exams that determine entry into professional programs and government jobs.

“We want this corruption to end,” he said. “We want all the frauds in paper leaks, in competitive examinations to end and this is the reason I have come here.”

The CJP initially built its following almost entirely online, gaining 22 million Instagram followers within days before expanding its reach and winning support from some opposition political parties.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and his supporters launched a sit-in last month calling for Education Minister Pradhan’s resignation. Wangchuk joined them on June 28, beginning an indefinite hunger strike at the site.

In a handwritten note shared from his hospital bed on his X account Monday, Wangchuk outlined conditions under which he would end his fast. He said he would stop if the government acknowledged accountability for recent failures in the education system and for exam paper leaks, or if CJP protesters were permitted to reach parliament and lawmakers pledged to address the issues in the chambers.

He added that he would also end the fast if lawmakers and party leaders visited him in the hospital and offered the same assurances, noting that his health prevents him from joining the march himself.

Analysts say the CJP’s rise reflects deep frustration among young Indians over persistent problems including high youth unemployment and recurring exam paper leaks. Government data shows that while overall unemployment for those aged 15 and above stood at 3.1% in 2025, the rate for those between 15 and 29 was considerably higher at 9.9% — climbing to 13.6% in urban areas, compared to 8.3% in rural regions.

Battery electric vehicles in Germany got more affordable over the past five years — even though average prices tell a different story, according to new data released July 20.

Research from the International Council on Clean Transportation and Fraunhofer ISI shows that when comparing electric vehicles with similar characteristics, prices fell by roughly 18% between 2020 and 2025 after accounting for inflation. By contrast, prices for comparable internal combustion engine vehicles actually edged up about 2% over the same period.

So why did average electric vehicle prices appear to go up? The answer lies in what automakers chose to sell. The median list price for a battery electric vehicle jumped 42% — rising to around €53,000 — while the median price for combustion engine vehicles increased a more modest 15%. Manufacturers shifted their offerings toward larger, higher-end electric models, which pushed the overall average higher.

The electric vehicle market also expanded dramatically during this period. The number of available battery electric models more than quadrupled, reaching 159 different options. Meanwhile, the number of combustion engine models on the market shrank to 194.

Battery technology costs dropped sharply on a global scale — falling between 35% and 37% after inflation — but that reduction had only a limited effect on what consumers actually paid for vehicles.

One notable improvement came in driving range. The average electric range grew by about one-third over the five-year span, suggesting that manufacturers reinvested the savings from cheaper batteries into improving the vehicles themselves rather than simply lowering sticker prices.

U.S. forces carried out strikes against Iran for the ninth day in a row on Monday, as the confirmed death toll among American military personnel climbed to three in the renewed fighting and anxiety grew over the safety of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command released a statement announcing “a new wave of strikes” designed to “degrade” Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial ships passing through the strait’s critical shipping lanes. The statement offered no additional specifics.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing its own reporters on the ground, reported that U.S. missiles struck multiple Iranian cities in the early morning hours Monday. According to Tasnim, explosions were reported in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr, and Bandar Imam Khomeini.

On Sunday, the U.S. military disclosed that a service member had been killed the previous day in northern Iraq — where the U.S. maintains military bases — during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance found on a downed Iranian attack drone. Central Command described the incident as occurring during a routine disposal operation.

Earlier in the weekend, the military reported that two service members had died in Jordan, with a third listed as missing in action. By Sunday, Central Command announced that “unidentified remains” had been recovered at the site of Friday’s attack, adding that “an examination process to verify the remains is ongoing.”

With the latest deaths included, the total number of U.S. military personnel killed since the war began stands at 17, with more than 420 additional troops wounded.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced its own surprise offensive, striking what it described as “the enemy’s special operations headquarters in Syria’s Al-Tanf area.” Iranian state television also reported that Iran conducted drone attacks against U.S. military assets and equipment at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base early Sunday — locations Iran had targeted previously during the past week of fighting.

Kuwait’s government reported that a desalination plant had been attacked for the second consecutive day, sparking a fire and prompting officials to condemn what they called a direct strike on essential civilian infrastructure.

The Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations Centre reported late Sunday that it had received word of a vessel on fire near the Omani coast, though it had not confirmed the cause.

Oil markets reacted sharply, with Brent crude futures jumping 3% on Monday and climbing above $90 per barrel — the highest price recorded since June 11.

Trump, speaking to reporters after returning from the World Cup final, addressed the overnight strikes: “We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did it in honor of” the U.S. service members who had been killed since Friday.

The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain issued a warning to Americans in the country, stating it had received information indicating Iran may be planning to target unspecified locations in central Manama, the nation’s capital, and urged U.S. citizens there to stay alert.

The broader conflict began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran aimed at disabling Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs and weakening its regional allies. Since then, thousands of people have been killed — the majority in Iran and Lebanon — and significant disruptions to global energy supplies have fueled fears of widespread inflation.

Hostilities have intensified in recent days as a temporary ceasefire agreement reached one month ago has collapsed and the battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz has deepened, raising the prospect of a return to full-scale warfare.

Andy Burnham is poised to become Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, following his selection by the Labour Party to succeed Sir Keir Starmer. Before returning to Parliament earlier this year, Burnham spent nine years serving as mayor of Greater Manchester. He also previously held senior cabinet roles — including health secretary — under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Burnham steps into Downing Street with a deep well of domestic governing experience but a comparatively thin record on international affairs. His most clearly defined foreign policy positions center on Israel, the Palestinians, and the conflict in Gaza. On issues such as Iran, the Gulf states, and the broader Middle East, he has said considerably less.

How Burnham Got to Downing Street

Burnham secured his path back to Parliament by winning a by-election in Makerfield, giving him the Commons seat required to pursue the Labour leadership. He was formally elected party leader on July 17, earning the backing of 379 Labour MPs and 23 affiliated organizations.

Because Labour already commands a strong parliamentary majority, Burnham can assume the role of prime minister without triggering an immediate general election. He arrives with broad support within the Parliamentary Labour Party, though he does not carry a personal nationwide electoral mandate for his foreign policy agenda.

Gaza and the October 7 Attacks

The clearest window into Burnham’s likely Middle East approach comes from his public statements about the Hamas-led October 7 attack and the war that followed in Gaza.

Burnham has spoken out against the Hamas attack and has worked to reassure Britain’s Jewish community that his criticism of Israel will not soften Labour’s firm stance against antisemitism. At the same time, he has acknowledged that Labour’s early response to the war fell short, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and that Britain was too slow to push for a ceasefire.

“We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” he said in July. “But let’s be honest, the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire. And we must now do more to strengthen our approach.”

This represents a departure from Starmer’s initial post-October 7 stance, which placed more weight on Israel’s right to self-defense and held back from early ceasefire calls.

Burnham has characterized the devastation in Gaza as appalling and stated there is “increasing evidence” that war crimes may have been committed. He has, however, stopped short of labeling Israel’s actions as genocide, arguing that such legal determinations should be left to international courts rather than politicians.

Israel, Palestine, and Settlements

Burnham’s views on Israel and the Palestinians go back well before the Gaza conflict. In 2012, he traveled to the West Bank as part of a parliamentary delegation. One of the trip’s organizers later recalled that Burnham was visibly troubled by the scale of settlements, checkpoints, barriers, and military infrastructure, and questioned whether a viable Palestinian state was still achievable.

During his 2015 Labour leadership bid, Burnham backed recognition of Palestinian statehood and labeled Israeli settlements both illegal and immoral. He also condemned Hamas terrorism and opposed the broad Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, instead favoring targeted measures aimed specifically at goods produced in settlements.

That same year, Burnham joined Labour Friends of Israel and pledged that Israel would be his first foreign destination if he became Labour leader. There is no clear public record indicating he followed through on that pledge.

His current position reflects a shift in emphasis rather than a full ideological reversal. Burnham still supports a two-state solution and does not advocate isolating Israel, but he has signaled that his government could pursue additional sanctions against those involved in violence and may consider banning trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements.

Israel and Antisemitism

Burnham has maintained that forceful criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government can coexist with an unwavering opposition to antisemitism.

“There is no contradiction between a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism and holding the Netanyahu government to account,” he said.

That balance will carry significant political weight. Labour spent years rebuilding its relationship with British Jewish communities following the antisemitism crisis under former party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Burnham will face pressure from pro-Palestinian members within Labour calling for stronger action against Israel, while also being expected to ensure that criticism of Israeli policy does not slide into hostility toward Jewish people or institutions.

Military Intervention and Iraq

Burnham’s record does not fit neatly into the category of a politician who opposes military action in the Middle East. As a Labour MP, he voted in 2003 in favor of the motion authorizing Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War. He later voted against several proposed inquiries into how that decision was made and how the war was conducted.

During the 2013 parliamentary debate over Syria’s use of chemical weapons, Burnham supported Labour’s more cautious approach, which required further review by the United Nations and an additional Commons vote before British forces could be deployed.

His record suggests neither automatic support for military intervention nor blanket opposition to it. As prime minister, he is likely to face pressing decisions involving the US-Iran conflict, the protection of British personnel and facilities, maritime security, and any international effort to safeguard shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran

Burnham has not yet put forward a detailed policy on Iran. He has referenced Iran and the deteriorating global security environment when making the case for stronger British armed forces and increased domestic defense production — but that establishes concern about preparedness rather than a clear strategy for dealing with Tehran’s nuclear program, sanctions, military confrontation, or diplomacy.

The ongoing US-Iran conflict may force Burnham to define those positions far sooner than anticipated. He will need to decide whether to offer diplomatic, logistical, or military support to Washington, and how to balance Britain’s alliance with the United States against pressure to avoid being drawn into another prolonged Middle Eastern conflict.

The Gulf and the Wider Region

There is little in the public record from which to piece together a distinct Burnham policy toward Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, or Kuwait. Britain’s ties with Gulf states span defense cooperation, intelligence sharing, trade, energy, and investment — relationships that are deeply embedded in British foreign policy and unlikely to be fundamentally altered simply because a new prime minister takes office.

A similar gap exists when it comes to Syria and Lebanon. Burnham has not laid out a developed position on Syria’s new government, Hezbollah’s weapons, Israeli operations in Lebanon, or the future of British engagement with Damascus.

His years as Greater Manchester mayor gave him exposure to diaspora communities and foreign representatives, but that kind of municipal engagement does not translate into a fully developed national foreign policy program.

The United States

Burnham has given no indication that he plans to weaken Britain’s strategic relationship with Washington. He may find himself at odds with President Donald Trump over specific Middle East decisions — particularly if the American president seeks British involvement in military operations against Iran. Even so, NATO commitments, intelligence cooperation, nuclear policy, and the broader US-UK security partnership are likely to constrain how far any such disagreements go.

Continuity With a Sharper Tone

Burnham’s probable approach to the Middle East can be described with more confidence on Gaza than on any other issue. He appears more willing than Starmer initially was to acknowledge Palestinian suffering, criticize Israeli conduct, consider trade restrictions tied to settlements, and use targeted sanctions as a tool of pressure. His history also reflects long-standing support for Palestinian statehood and concern about settlement expansion.

At the same time, Burnham has condemned Hamas, declined to treat genocide as a political determination, opposed a broad boycott of Israel, and emphasized zero tolerance for antisemitism. He has not called for severing Britain’s alliance with the United States or dismantling its strategic ties with Gulf governments.

The most likely outcome is not a foreign policy revolution, but rather a British government that speaks more critically about Israel, places greater public emphasis on Palestinian rights, and pursues targeted economic pressure — while proceeding carefully on Iran, the Gulf, Syria, and Lebanon. How well that approach holds up against the realities of war, alliance obligations, and the day-to-day demands of governing will only become clear once Burnham is inside Downing Street.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a sweeping reorganization of the country’s top security posts, making new appointments at the National Security Bureau, the Interior Ministry, and the General Intelligence Directorate as Syria continues restructuring its institutions during an ongoing transitional period.

Among the most significant changes, Interior Minister Anas Khattab was given the additional role of director of the National Security Bureau, while continuing to serve in his current ministerial position.

Khattab has risen to become one of Syria’s most prominent security figures since the fall of former President Bashar Assad. Following the establishment of the new government, he was first appointed to lead the General Intelligence Directorate before taking over as interior minister in March 2025. In that role, he has led a wide-ranging overhaul of the Interior Ministry, which has included merging security agencies, bolstering civilian law enforcement, and stepping up efforts to fight terrorism and organized crime.

Hussein al-Salama was appointed deputy director of the National Security Bureau after previously heading the General Intelligence Directorate. Before taking on that intelligence role, al-Salama had served as governor of Deir ez-Zor.

President al-Sharaa also tapped Brig. Gen. Mulham al-Shantout as deputy interior minister for security affairs. Al-Shantout previously served as the head of internal security in Hama province. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Tahan, who had been serving as deputy interior minister, was elevated to director of the General Intelligence Directorate.

Syrian officials say the restructuring is part of a broader push to rebuild and redistribute responsibilities among the country’s security agencies following its political transition.

The personnel changes come on the heels of a troubling string of security incidents in the capital. On July 2, a bomb went off at a café in central Damascus, killing five people and wounding 16 others, according to the Interior Ministry. Shortly after, two improvised explosive devices detonated while bomb disposal teams were attempting to neutralize them, injuring 18 people including four police officers. On July 9, the Interior Ministry announced that a cell believed to be responsible for the attacks had been arrested, with early investigations pointing to connections with the Islamic State group.

The Israeli military issued a warning Sunday that Iran had fired ballistic missiles at the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, cautioning that the assault could send projectiles or debris crossing into Israeli territory.

“There may be spillover into Israeli territory as a result of the fire,” the Israel Defense Forces stated, noting that air raid sirens would be activated if the situation required it. The IDF also confirmed that civilian safety guidelines from the Home Front Command remained unchanged.

Early reports indicated that loud explosions were heard over the Israeli city of Eilat as defense systems moved to intercept the Iranian missiles heading toward neighboring Aqaba. Videos and photos circulating on social media captured thick plumes of smoke rising above the Red Sea resort area.

The IDF later confirmed that interceptions had taken place outside Israeli borders, but that fragments from those intercepts may have drifted into Israeli airspace. Debris was ultimately found in the northern part of Eilat, and officials reported no injuries.

Earlier that same day, Jordan’s government pushed back against a statement released by the US Embassy in Amman, which had claimed that Jordanian authorities evacuated Aqaba’s international airport and Red Sea seaport due to what the embassy called a “specific and credible threat.”

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani flatly denied that any evacuation orders had been issued for either location. In comments to the state-run Petra news agency, Al-Momani stated that Jordanian authorities had not identified any threats to Aqaba in recent hours. Jordan’s state news agency also cited a government spokesperson confirming that no decision had been made to evacuate the airport or seaport.

The US Embassy had previously urged American citizens to avoid traveling to those facilities, citing the supposed evacuations in response to the described threat.

These developments occurred against the backdrop of the United States conducting its eighth straight night of military strikes against Iran, following attacks on US military bases in Jordan that left two American troops dead and roughly a dozen others wounded.

Jordan’s government pushed back Sunday against a statement from the US Embassy in Amman that claimed Jordanian authorities had cleared out the international airport and seaport in the southern port city of Aqaba due to what the embassy called a “specific and credible threat.”

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Al-Momani rejected the embassy’s account outright, telling the state-run Petra news agency that no evacuation orders had been issued for either facility. Al-Momani added that Jordanian authorities had not detected any potential threats to Aqaba in the hours leading up to the embassy’s statement. Jordan’s state news agency separately quoted a government spokesperson confirming that no decision had been made to evacuate the airport or the seaport.

Earlier that same Sunday, the US Embassy in Amman had put out a statement saying Jordanian authorities had evacuated both the Aqaba international airport and the seaport in response to what it described as a “specific and credible threat.” The embassy called on American citizens to avoid traveling to either location and urged them to follow all security guidance from Jordanian authorities.

The embassy also reminded Americans in Jordan to stay away from military bases in the country, avoid demonstrations and large gatherings, steer clear of areas with a heavy police presence, and use extra caution near places publicly associated with the United States.

In a separate and significant development, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization alleged that the United States had carried out a strike on the Darkhovin nuclear power plant, a facility still under construction in Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. Iran’s Mehr news agency reported the organization’s claim that the alleged attack was a violation of international law. No specific timeframe for the supposed strike was given, and no details about damage to the site were provided.

Construction on the Darkhovin nuclear power plant began in 2022.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has revealed that his administration is looking into whether the city holds the legal power to detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he arrives in New York for the United Nations General Assembly this September.

Mamdani confirmed that the city’s Law Department is actively reviewing the question, and that conversations are still underway about what authority, if any, the mayor and the New York Police Department actually have in such a situation.

During an appearance on The Interview, a New York Times program hosted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Mamdani voiced sharp criticism of the Israeli leader while admitting the legal picture is far from clear.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”

While the New York Police Department falls under the mayor’s command, Mamdani said he is uncertain whether that authority extends to ordering officers to detain a foreign head of government visiting the city. He described the situation as being in “an active conversation” with the Law Department.

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” he said.

Mamdani’s current position is a step back from statements he made during last year’s mayoral campaign, when he told The New York Times he would order the Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister set foot in the city.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the conflict in Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sharply condemned Mamdani’s comments.

“Mamdani failed in managing the city of New York. Instead of focusing on his responsibility as mayor and confronting the rising wave of antisemitism in his city, he chose to incite hostility and create headlines by attacking the State of Israel,” Danon said.

Danon went on to say, “The Prime Minister of Israel will come to New York, address the General Assembly of the UN with pride, and stand before the world.”

The U.S. military announced early Monday that it had launched another wave of airstrikes against Iran, continuing what has now become nine consecutive nights of military operations.

The announcement came from U.S. Central Command, which has been overseeing the ongoing campaign. Activists inside Iran began reporting explosions at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time.

In a statement, Central Command said, “The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

The military also confirmed that one American service member has been killed, and officials are working to verify the remains of a soldier who was reported missing in action following Iranian strikes over the weekend. The identities of those casualties are being withheld until their families can be properly notified.

The back-and-forth military exchanges between the United States and Iran have been ongoing for roughly a week, following the collapse of a memorandum of understanding that had been designed to ease hostilities and preserve peace between the two countries.

U.S. officials have made clear they intend to hold those responsible for the attacks accountable, vowing a continued response to the ongoing aggression.

LONDON — Andy Burnham, widely known by the nickname ‘King of the North,’ was officially installed as Britain’s seventh prime minister in just ten years on Monday, pledging to fundamentally ‘rewire’ the country to address the issues that matter most to everyday citizens, including the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and struggling public services.

The transition of power began with outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivering his farewell address outside his Number 10 Downing Street office before formally submitting his resignation to King Charles. Burnham, who previously served as mayor of Greater Manchester, then met with the monarch to be formally appointed to the top job.

Now, the real work begins for the 56-year-old leader.

Burnham inherits a lengthy list of national challenges, ranging from sluggish economic growth to poorly functioning utility companies. His immediate task is revealing the makeup of his ministerial team — a decision that has already sparked considerable debate within the ruling Labour Party.

At a party address on Friday, Burnham described his rise to Labour leadership as ‘the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years,’ and laid out an ambitious vision for transforming Britain’s political landscape to rapidly improve living standards.

‘The government I lead will confidently lay that path out starting next week,’ he told Labour lawmakers, adding that he intended to deliver the hope and change the country ‘was crying out for.’

‘It will take us to a country where life is more affordable and all people and places are lifted from where they are now,’ he continued.

Those remarks were aimed squarely at Labour members of parliament, who have increasingly viewed Burnham as one of the few figures capable of countering the rising influence of veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage and his populist Reform UK party — a challenge they believed the unpopular Starmer was unable to meet.

Burnham’s most pressing early decision centers on cabinet appointments, especially the selection of a finance minister. Historically, a fractured relationship between a prime minister and their treasury chief has spelled trouble for British governments.

Energy security and net zero minister Ed Miliband had been considered a leading candidate for the finance role, but has recently faced a wave of negative behind-the-scenes briefings. Interior minister Shabana Mahmood has now emerged as the apparent frontrunner.

On Friday, Burnham urged members of his party to disregard the ‘speculation’ swirling around cabinet picks, saying he had not yet finalized his choices.

Policy moves are also drawing early attention. On Sunday, his team announced plans to abandon a proposed scheme that would have required all workers to carry a digital identity document — a measure aimed at curbing illegal migration that a cross-party parliamentary committee had labeled a ‘fiasco.’

Further scrutiny is expected over upcoming decisions on taxation, government spending, energy policy involving oil and gas, and the future of underperforming utility companies, which Burnham has indicated he wants brought under greater public oversight.

Also on Sunday, deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell — a close Burnham ally — suggested that Thames Water, a heavily indebted utility company, could be placed under ‘special measures,’ effectively putting it under government control.

‘He wants to refocus and reprioritise the government’s resources, the government’s attention onto his priorities of tackling the cost of living, really rewiring the way the country, the economy works,’ Powell told Sky News.