Author: Admin

British police announced Saturday that their investigation into an alleged threat against an Islamic religious event in eastern England last weekend has turned up no evidence sufficient to charge anyone with a terrorism-related offense.

The incident prompted the arrest of thirteen individuals between Sunday and Thursday, after authorities learned of what they described as a “potential serious threat” directed at a religious gathering attended by roughly 15,000 people at a country house in Suffolk.

Eight of those arrested were detained under the Terrorism Act. By Saturday, seven of the eight had been released without any charges filed against them.

The eighth man, age 42, was charged — but not in connection with the alleged threat. He faces charges related to possession of offensive weapons, specifically extendable batons, as well as possession of a stun gun. Those items were discovered during searches conducted as part of the investigation. Police clarified that those charges are not believed to be tied to the original threat.

Commander Helen Flanagan, who leads Counter Terrorism Policing London, addressed the outcome in an official statement: “We have found no evidence to support anyone being charged with any offences linked to the alleged threat.”

Flanagan added that the investigation remains active and that authorities will not hesitate to act if any new threats to public safety are identified.

During the course of the investigation, officers searched homes and vehicles and confiscated more than 35 digital devices.

The development comes after Britain elevated its national terrorism threat level to “severe” back in April — a designation indicating that an attack is considered highly likely.

Interior minister Shabana Mahmood acknowledged last week that the arrests would likely be a source of concern for British Muslims. Flanagan echoed that sentiment Saturday, saying she wanted to offer reassurance to the Muslim community that the inquiry is continuing.

A Lebanese soldier died Saturday after an explosive device detonated within an army vehicle traveling through the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri, according to a statement from the Lebanese army. An officer and one additional soldier sustained injuries in the blast.

The Israeli military also commented on the incident, stating that the vehicle had driven over an explosive device in the Al-Mansouri area. Following a review, Israeli forces concluded the device did not originate from the Israeli military and was most likely planted by Hezbollah.

Israeli officials further noted that their soldiers had not been operating in that area recently. They also stated that the Lebanese army vehicle had entered what they referred to as a security zone without first coordinating with Israel — a step they say is required under an existing coordination agreement between the two sides.

The Lebanese army said its investigation into the incident is ongoing and offered no additional details at this time.

BAMAKO, Mali — A deadly ambush on a Malian military convoy in the country’s troubled north on Saturday left scores of soldiers either dead or taken captive, according to the rebel groups who carried out the attack.

Mali’s army acknowledged the assault in an official statement, confirming that armed groups targeted a convoy of Malian soldiers and their partners in a remote area of the northern Gao region. The military offered few additional details, stating only that “a counterattack is underway.”

Two separate armed factions — the regional al-Qaida affiliate known as JNIM and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA — each issued statements claiming they carried out the attack together. Both groups described “great human losses” and “serious material damage” suffered by the Malian army.

According to the rebel groups, the convoy included both Malian army personnel and members of Russia’s Africa Corps, a force that has been operating alongside Mali’s military in the region.

Security analysts say the growing cooperation between JNIM and the FLA represents a significant and dangerous threat to Mali’s stability and its ruling military government.

FLA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane described the scale of the attack, saying: “There were many soldiers killed, others captured alive. Army cars including armored cars were destroyed and others seized in good condition.”

The convoy had been traveling from the northern town of Anefis toward Gao city when it was struck in the Sahara desert. The exact purpose of the convoy was not immediately known, though the presence of fuel tankers in the column suggested it may have been a logistics mission.

Videos shared by the rebel groups purportedly showed soldiers lined up and appearing to surrender while surrounded by militants and military vehicles. One video appeared to show rebels firing on soldiers lying on the ground, while other footage showed soldiers being transported in vehicles belonging to the armed groups. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

The attack is the most recent in a string of militant strikes against Malian security forces in recent months, as armed factions compete for power and territory across the broader Sahel region. Mali is a landlocked country situated within the Sahel, a vast stretch of land running along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert that has become a hotbed of extremist activity in recent years.

In northern Mali, Tuareg-led separatist movements have long sought to establish an independent state called Azawad. In 2024, these groups united under the banner of the Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA.

The FLA and JNIM have been increasingly coordinating their operations against Malian forces. Their partnership was on full display in April, when they carried out what was described as the largest coordinated attack in the West African nation in more than a decade.

Two U.S. military personnel serving in Jordan were killed Friday as they worked to repel an assault involving Iranian missiles and drones, according to a statement released Saturday by U.S. Central Command.

The announcement confirmed that the service members died while actively defending against the incoming attack. No additional details about the circumstances were immediately provided in the official statement.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released a written statement Saturday declaring that President Donald Trump’s signature is “utterly worthless and devoid of credibility,” pointing to what he described as repeated U.S. violations of a memorandum of understanding that had been signed by the leaders of both Iran and the United States.

The sharp condemnation comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran have sharply escalated. The two nations have exchanged military strikes after a ceasefire agreement between them broke down last week, stoking fears of a return to full-scale conflict.

Khamenei also issued a warning in his statement, saying the United States should understand that the Iranian people and the so-called “resistance front” have “unforgettable lessons” in store for it.

BUDAPEST — Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok put his signature on a constitutional amendment Saturday that brings his own tenure as head of state to an immediate end, according to a statement he released.

The measure was passed by Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s ruling Tisza party, which has been working to dismantle the political infrastructure built by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Magyar has said voters gave him a clear mandate to do exactly that after his party removed the right-wing leader in a sweeping April election victory.

The constitutional change ends Sulyok’s presidency right away, pointing to what it describes as a “serious loss of confidence” that society holds toward a leader who was originally elected in early 2024 by lawmakers loyal to Orban’s Fidesz party.

Sulyok, a former Constitutional Court judge, said he felt compelled to sign the legislation because it technically complied with existing law — but he made clear he believes the reform has done real damage to Hungary’s democratic foundations.

“The seventeenth amendment to the Constitution has marked a watershed in Hungary’s constitutional democracy,” Sulyok stated.

He added: “By removing public office holders in a manner that openly violates the rule of law … it sets a negative precedent that inflicts a deep wound on the constitutional values of democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law.”

The Tisza party holds a two-thirds supermajority in parliament, giving it the power to alter any law in the country. Parliament will now choose a new president, either until a new constitution takes effect or for up to five years.

The amendment goes further than just removing Sulyok. It also puts a 12-year cap on how long lawmakers can serve and sets a mandatory retirement age of 70 for Constitutional Court judges. That provision will force the court’s current president — considered an ally of Orban — Peter Polt, to step down.

Magyar had repeatedly demanded that Sulyok resign since taking power in April, accusing him of failing to represent the country’s interests and instead acting on behalf of Orban and his allies. Until now, Sulyok had refused to leave voluntarily.

The Israeli military announced Saturday that it launched a strike targeting a Hezbollah cell located near the town of Tebnit in southern Lebanon, following the detection of a Hezbollah drone by Israeli soldiers in the region.

According to a military statement, the Israeli air force tracked down fighters who had been operating drones while taking cover in close proximity to Israeli troops. Officials stated that this behavior was a direct violation of ceasefire understandings that had been in place. As of the time of the report, Hezbollah had not issued any public comment in response to the strike.

GAZA CITY — At least nine Palestinians, including three children, lost their lives Saturday following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, according to hospital officials.

One of the strikes targeted an apartment building in the Nasr neighborhood, claiming the lives of at least five people. Among the dead were children ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old. Mohammed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital — where the victims were brought — confirmed the deaths and noted that six additional people sustained injuries, four of them children between the ages of 8 and 16.

The Israeli military stated it had identified Hamas infrastructure and located militants in the area as the basis for the strike, though it provided no further details.

A second Israeli strike struck a group of people gathered in the Zeitoun neighborhood, killing four individuals and leaving one more in critical condition, according to health officials.

Regarding that strike, the Israeli military said it had targeted what it described as a “Hamas terrorist” and indicated it was still assessing the outcome of the operation.

Residents across Gaza have reported a noticeable escalation in the frequency and intensity of Israeli strikes over the past several days.

Although Israel and the Hamas militant group reached a ceasefire agreement in October, Israeli forces have continued to carry out attacks across the territory on an almost daily basis. Israel maintains that its operations are focused on Hamas and other armed groups that it considers a threat. Both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of violating the terms of the ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that at least 1,127 Palestinians have been killed, including no fewer than 260 children. Five Israeli soldiers have also died during that same period.

The conflict was ignited by a Hamas-led militant assault on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in 251 others being taken hostage. Israel’s military response has since killed 73,250 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry operates under the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals who keep detailed records. United Nations agencies and independent analysts generally consider those records to be reliable. The ministry does not separate civilian deaths from militant deaths in its reporting, but indicates that women and children account for roughly half of all fatalities.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian prosecutors have made public surveillance video of what they describe as the bombing in Monaco that left wealthy businessman Vadym Yermolaiev and members of his family with serious injuries.

The explosion occurred on June 30 and sent shockwaves through the exclusive and famously private Mediterranean principality. The reason behind the attack has not been established. Investigators from Monaco, France, and Ukraine have all been working on the case, alongside international policing organization Interpol.

The woman suspected of carrying out the bombing, Anastasiia Berezovska, was discovered dead in Ukraine just days after the attack. A Ukrainian military intelligence officer later admitted to killing her, but claimed he acted entirely on his own without authorization from his superiors, according to Ukraine’s Security Service, known as the SBU.

In the footage shared with The Associated Press on Saturday, an individual wearing a hat and carrying a bag can be seen leaving an object in the entryway of a building before walking away. In the background, a man, a woman, and a child can be seen approaching the same entryway. As the three near the entrance, an explosion occurs and the video becomes distorted.

Ukrainian chief prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko stated in a post on Telegram that the footage came from a surveillance camera that the suspected perpetrators had set up themselves to confirm the attack happened. He added that the footage had been erased but was successfully recovered by SBU technical experts.

The prosecutor’s office in Monaco did not respond to requests for comment regarding the video or where the investigation currently stands.

Lawyers representing Yermolaiev sent a letter this week alleging that Ukrainian security services were responsible for organizing the bombing and calling for protection for his family.

In the letter, which was provided to French media outlets, Yermolaiev stated that Ukrainian military intelligence was directly involved in what he described as an assassination attempt against his family. He wrote that he remains in the hospital, that his partner Anna has suffered injuries described as “irreversible,” and that their 13-year-old son sustained burns and fractures.

In an unusual turn, the letter also expressed gratitude toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his personal attention to the situation and for unspecified help he reportedly provided, according to the French media reports.

Yermolaiev was placed under sanctions by Zelenskyy’s government in 2023 due to his connections to Russia, and he has stated that he gave up his Ukrainian citizenship. Zelenskyy has not addressed whether he played any role in assisting Yermolaiev.

SAO PAULO — A justice on Brazil’s Supreme Court has rejected a formal request from lawyers representing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who sought to allow Argentine President Javier Milei to pay him a visit while he remains under house arrest.

The meeting had been planned for July 25 in Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also presided over the trial that resulted in Bolsonaro being sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for his role in a coup attempt, ruled against the visit. In his decision, Moraes pointed to an existing prohibition barring the former president from receiving any visitors for purposes described as “political-electoral in nature.”

Milei is expected to travel to Sao Paulo to attend a Liberal Party convention. That gathering will formally certify Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro — one of the former president’s sons — as the party’s candidate to challenge sitting President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The relationship between Lula and Milei has been described as chilly. Lula has long been allied with political figures who are considered rivals of Milei, including former Argentine presidents Cristina Fernández and Alberto Fernández.

This is not the first time Moraes has blocked such a request. Back in March, he denied a similar appeal from U.S. State Department official Darren Beattie — a conservative author who served as undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs during the Trump administration — who had sought to visit Bolsonaro while he was still in prison.

CARACAS (AP) — Venezuelan authorities announced late Friday that the combined death toll from two powerful earthquakes that struck the country last month has reached 5,069.

A statement from the interim government of President Delcy Rodriguez confirmed that the number of people injured remains at 16,740 — a figure that has held steady for the past 11 days.

The rising death toll is being attributed to ongoing recovery efforts and debris removal operations, especially in the coastal state of La Guaira, which sits near the Caribbean Sea and was the most severely affected area. As of Friday, authorities had recorded a total of 1,331 aftershocks following the initial quakes.

The Venezuelan government reports that 856 buildings sustained damage and 190 were completely destroyed following the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck on June 24. Hundreds of additional structures, including roads and bridges, were also impacted by the disaster.

Iranian authorities announced Sunday that a man convicted of fatally shooting a member of the country’s security forces during the 2022 nationwide protests has been executed.

Officials said the deadly incident occurred during civil unrest in Tehran, where demonstrators blocked streets and confronted security personnel.

Authorities identified the executed man as Aref Khoshkar, saying he used a pellet gun to shoot at security forces, striking Salman Amirahmadi, who later died from his injuries at a hospital.

According to officials, Khoshkar admitted to firing the weapon from the rooftop of a building before discarding it in a trash bin.

This execution is among the most recent carried out in connection with the 2022 protest movement, which spread rapidly across Iran after Mahsa Amini — a 22-year-old Kurdish woman — died while in police custody. She had been detained for allegedly breaking the country’s strict dress code requirements.

Human rights organizations have spoken out against the legal proceedings tied to deaths of security personnel during the protests, arguing that those charged were not given fair due process under the law.

JOHANNESBURG — Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy announced Saturday that it is looking into a cybersecurity incident that struck the president’s official website, while stressing that no evidence has emerged pointing to unauthorized access to sensitive information or any loss of data.

According to the ministry, the government’s ICT Authority first detected the incident and quickly put cybersecurity response protocols into motion. As a precaution, access to the presidential website was temporarily shut down to help contain the situation and allow investigators to conduct a thorough forensic review.

The ministry noted that appropriate steps to address the threat have since been put in place, and efforts to bring the website back online are currently in progress.

Cabinet secretary for the ministry William Kabogo Gitau addressed the situation in a statement posted to X, saying: “At this time, there is no evidence of unauthorised access to sensitive data, data exfiltration, or loss of information. Government systems and digital services remain secure and operational.”

The ICT Authority is continuing to work alongside relevant government agencies and technical partners to carry out the forensic investigation and determine exactly what happened during the incident, according to the statement.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American and Iranian forces exchanged blows against infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their ongoing battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz grew more intense.

The region has been caught in a cycle of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict centered on the strait, a critical waterway that once carried one-fifth of the world’s crude oil. The breakdown of a temporary ceasefire has left no clear path toward ending the war, which the U.S. and Israel launched more than four months ago.

U.S. Central Command announced early Saturday that its seventh consecutive night of strikes had targeted “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

The most serious damage on Saturday came in Kuwait, where Iran struck a water desalination plant and an oil facility, according to Kuwaiti authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Neither organization disclosed the locations of the strikes.

The attack on the oil facility left several people injured, while the strike on the desalination plant triggered a fire and knocked multiple power generation units offline. This marked the second assault on a Kuwaiti desalination facility in two days — a particularly alarming development for the small desert nation, which relies on desalination for 90 percent of its drinking water.

The Kuwait Fire Force reported that several firefighters and a worker were also hurt while fighting two additional fires ignited by Iranian strikes.

Kuwait temporarily shut down its airspace Saturday morning in response to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways announced it was rescheduling the majority of its flights to and from the capital.

Elsewhere in the region, Iraq reported shooting down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the country’s air defense systems intercepted Iranian missiles, and air raid sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain, according to that government.

Iranian officials have stated that recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens and wounded hundreds inside Iran. The U.S. military also confirmed that additional American service members had been injured.

Iran effectively shut the strait to shipping after the war began on Feb. 28, causing oil prices to spike and giving Tehran considerable leverage in negotiations. Oil prices climbed above $86 per barrel on Friday — near their highest point in a month — as vessel crossings through the strait dropped to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

In a Thursday evening address to the American public, Trump expressed confidence in the war’s progress. “We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly,” he said.

Before hostilities began, the U.S. had been engaged in diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces mounting political pressure to end the conflict and avoid the kind of drawn-out Middle East war he campaigned against.

U.S. airstrikes struck an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, according to Iranian state television. The attacks hit Bonji, a coastal village on the Strait of Hormuz. Overnight strikes also damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting a major highway leading toward Bandar Abbas — a city near the narrowest section of the strait — Iran’s state-run news agency reported. Iran additionally reported strikes on the strategically important Qeshm Island within the strait.

The day before, Iranian state media reported that U.S. forces had struck highways and railway bridges, in what appeared to be an effort to cut off Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port, from roads connecting it to the country’s central region and ultimately to Tehran, the capital.

For the first time during the U.S. airstrike campaign, Iran’s Energy Ministry acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” on Friday, issuing a call for residents in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat” to reduce their electricity consumption. The ministry did not identify which specific facilities had been hit.

Iranian authorities reported that at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes over the past three weeks, including eight people killed in a bridge strike on Friday.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps escalated its warnings Saturday, stating that countries hosting U.S. forces should be “prepared to receive a corresponding response,” according to Iranian state TV. Pro-Iranian demonstrators continued their nightly protests in the capital for more than the 100th consecutive day.

U.S. officials confirmed that 13 additional service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, though no further details were provided. Since the war’s start, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Iran has asserted that the strait must fall under its exclusive control and that ships passing through should pay fees to Tehran — a position that conflicts with the international community’s longstanding recognition of the waterway as open to all nations.

Trump has renewed threats in recent days to target Iranian power stations and bridges in an effort to pressure Iran into relinquishing its grip on the strait, through which roughly one-fifth of all globally traded oil and natural gas once flowed during peacetime. The U.S. has also reinstated a naval blockade on Iranian ports to stop its crude oil exports.

According to MarineTraffic.com, only eight vessels crossed the strait on Thursday — a three-week low. While more regional energy is being routed through pipelines, the volume is far from enough to compensate for the dramatic decline in strait shipping.

BERLIN — A senior figure in Germany’s ruling conservative bloc resigned Saturday following intense backlash over his decision to have a child via a surrogate mother in the United States.

Jens Spahn, 46, served as the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrat party and its allied Christian Social Union — together known as CDU/CSU. The controversy erupted after it became public that Spahn and his husband had welcomed a baby through a surrogate, a practice that runs counter to the party’s official position.

In Germany, surrogacy is against the law, though raising a child born through surrogacy in another country is not prohibited.

In his resignation letter, Spahn explained his decision: “Over the past few days, I have come to realise that my personal happiness — starting a family with my husband and becoming a father — is incompatible with my political office.”

The CDU had reaffirmed its opposition to surrogacy within Germany at a party conference back in February. Once news surfaced that Spahn had used a surrogate in the U.S., voices from within the party began calling on him to step aside.

Eight sources with inside knowledge of Venezuela’s disaster response have told Reuters that delayed commands from senior military leaders, a shortage of basic equipment, and widespread confusion crippled the country’s ability to mobilize troops in the critical first days following two massive earthquakes that struck its coastline last month.

The two quakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, claimed approximately 5,000 lives according to government figures — though experts, including the United States Geological Survey, have estimated the final death toll could reach nearly double that number. The hardest-hit area was La Guaira state, which is home to the country’s primary airport, a major port, and hundreds of high-rise residential buildings, many of which collapsed entirely or partially.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who has the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, has forcefully defended her administration’s handling of the disaster in the face of widespread criticism that military personnel and government officials arrived too late and provided little meaningful assistance to survivors, including those trapped beneath rubble.

While Rodriguez stated that 4,000 officials were deployed immediately following the quakes, residents, Reuters journalists on the ground, and multiple sources familiar with the situation said military and police were barely visible in the early hours after the disaster struck.

Ordinary civilians took the lead in rescue efforts — particularly during the first two days — bringing food and using basic tools to pull survivors and victims from the wreckage. International rescue teams, firefighters, civil protection workers, and a small number of Venezuelan soldiers eventually joined the effort. Those soldiers told Reuters they had volunteered for the often-grim work rather than being formally ordered to participate.

Active and retired military officers, along with diplomatic community sources, attributed the thin security presence to late deployment orders, uncertainty about who held authority over the crisis, and a lack of proper equipment.

“We don’t act on our own; we receive direct orders,” said one active-duty officer who spoke anonymously. “I can’t tell my unit, ‘Let’s go help in La Guaira,’ if I haven’t been ordered to do so. We didn’t have a plan like the ones that exist for defending the nation. There was no plan for dealing with something like this.”

Soldiers from that officer’s unit traveled to La Guaira the day after the June 24 earthquakes, following orders to reinforce personnel already there.

“We weren’t going to leave without preparation or logistics because obviously nobody is prepared for something like this,” the officer said. “The troops in Caracas should at least have been sent to provide security and help however they could.”

A source familiar with diplomatic circles described the overall situation as one of confusion. “There was no plan and the chain of command was weak; many people simply didn’t know what to do,” the source said. That same source noted that delays in issuing orders also held back international rescue teams who had arrived within the first 48 hours, squandering precious time during which more lives might have been saved.

“Everyone looks upward waiting for an order. They would rather do nothing than act and risk being reprimanded,” the source said, referring to delays in assigning search zones to rescue teams. “The loss of those hours was enormously frustrating.”

“The Marine Infantry Brigade was ready to move but never received instructions to do so,” said one source with knowledge of military affairs.

A separate military source said their unit lacked enough vehicles to transport personnel to the disaster zone. Three additional sources said units were missing equipment ranging from hammers and pickaxes to helicopters fitted with night vision capability. Another source said the vice minister responsible for disaster response arrived in La Guaira around midnight on the night of the quake without the communications equipment necessary to report the full scale of the devastation.

Venezuela’s Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Rodriguez, however, has been vocal in defending her government’s actions. When pressed by reporters on July 2 about who had issued orders to the military, she claimed that “media laboratories” had manufactured a false impression of chaos — though she offered no supporting evidence. Days later, at a public event, she declared: “I gave the order, and I take responsibility for our Bolivarian National Armed Force.”

Rodriguez designated National Guard commander Juan Sulbaran Quintero as the “single authority” overseeing the disaster response, while simultaneously issuing a decree granting authority to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Four sources said that overlapping command structure generated confusion over who was actually directing military and police operations, including disagreements over whether to deploy military police or the national police force.

Sources noted that years of economic hardship have eroded military readiness, with budgets prioritizing payroll over equipment maintenance and upgrades. By contrast, when La Guaira was devastated by a massive mudslide in 1999, the military launched a full-scale response using boats and helicopters to rescue and evacuate survivors.

“The armed forces have a concept known as operational readiness — the capacity to respond to threats and emergencies — but that readiness is limited,” said one source with knowledge of military matters.

The earthquakes struck on Army Day, a national holiday during which many military personnel were off duty and away from their assigned posts. “When the earthquakes hit, the strategic operational commander and the regional commander should have ordered an immediate recall of military personnel. That order never came,” the source said.

“The earthquake was the moment for the military to distinguish itself,” the active-duty officer said. “They should have been there at dawn with armored vehicles and cables pulling people out. The psychological impact would have been enormous — people seeing the troops helping. But we didn’t have a plan.”

Russian officials reported Saturday that seven people lost their lives and 51 others were injured following a large-scale Ukrainian drone assault carried out overnight across multiple Russian regions.

Ukraine has been maintaining a persistent aerial campaign targeting energy infrastructure and military-related sites inside Russian territory, with the goal of weakening Moscow’s ability to wage war and bringing the reality of the conflict home to Russian citizens. The invasion of Ukraine is now well into its fifth year.

According to Russian officials, Ukrainian drones struck two large warehouses belonging to Wildberries, one of Russia’s biggest online retailers. One warehouse was hit in the town of Kotovsk, located in the Tambov region approximately 360 kilometers — or about 220 miles — from the Ukrainian border. A second warehouse was struck in the city of Elektrostal, roughly 50 kilometers, or about 30 miles, east of Moscow.

In a Saturday post on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that long-range Ukrainian strikes had hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions.”

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding that an oil facility was also struck in the attacks.

Zelenskyy also noted that Ukrainian special operations forces carried out additional strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed that seven workers on the night shift were killed at the Kotovsk warehouse, with another 25 people wounded there. In Elektrostal, 24 people were injured, according to Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov.

Vorobyov also reported that two additional people were wounded in the Moscow region city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, where a Ukrainian drone strike set an oil depot ablaze. As a safety precaution, a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building were evacuated, he added.

In the city of Vladimir — located about 180 kilometers, or more than 110 miles, east of Moscow — a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building and briefly ignited a fire. Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said no one was hurt in that incident.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that its air defense systems intercepted a total of 379 Ukrainian drones overnight, with the strikes spanning 19 Russian regions as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea.

Less than a month after the United States and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end their conflict, the two nations are lurching back toward all-out war — and the fragile deal they signed appears to be in ruins.

The unraveling began on June 25, just one week after the agreement was signed, when an Iranian drone struck a cargo ship traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. No one was killed and the damage was limited, but the attack set off a cycle of strikes and counterstrikes that has steadily dismantled the foundations of the peace deal.

Red lines declared by both countries have now been crossed, and while some diplomatic efforts to salvage the agreement are still underway, the prospect of renewed full-scale war — one that could further destabilize the Middle East and shake the world economy — is growing more likely by the day.

Here is a look at how the situation deteriorated.

The drone attack on the cargo ship came after Iran had warned ships not to use an alternative passage through the Strait of Hormuz — a route overseen by the U.S. military and designed to operate outside of Iran’s authority.

Iran had largely closed off the strait — which in peacetime carries about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas — following a surprise U.S.-Israeli attack on February 28 that triggered the war. Tehran has since treated control over the strait, and the enormous economic leverage it provides, as a critical tool in its standoff with Washington.

The preliminary deal had called for the strait to be fully reopened, but it also included language that suggested Iran could manage ship traffic and potentially collect fees going forward. Iran has latched onto that provision, arguing it has the legal right to govern the strait and that the alternative route violates the terms of the agreement.

The United States and other nations reject that interpretation, maintaining that the strait should remain open to all vessels without tolls, just as it was before the war began.

The day after the June 25 drone strike, the U.S. launched its own strikes on Iran, targeting what the military described as missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar installations.

Iran responded the next day by attacking a tanker using the alternative route. The U.S. struck back again, and Iran escalated further — this time hitting nearby Gulf states, launching attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which are home to American military personnel.

The following week, both sides stepped back from the brink and sent delegations to Qatar, which had played a central role in brokering the original agreement. However, the two sides did not hold direct talks.

Iran repeated its warnings against use of the alternative route as it prepared for the multi-day funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been killed in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes of the war. The funeral began on July 4, drawing large crowds calling for revenge against U.S. President Donald Trump.

Days after the funeral, Iran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. responded with a broad wave of strikes it said targeted Iranian air defense systems, radar installations, and more than 60 small watercraft operated by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — vessels that have been used to harass commercial ships in the strait.

Washington also revoked a waiver that had allowed Iran to sell its oil on international markets in U.S. dollars for the first time in years. That waiver had been a key component of the interim deal.

Iran condemned both the strikes and the reimposition of oil sanctions as violations of the agreement, while continuing to insist on its right to control the strait — which its military leadership has called an “unbreakable red line.” Iran also widened its retaliatory strikes to include Bahrain, Kuwait, and even Qatar, the country that had served as a mediator.

President Trump, speaking after departing a NATO summit, sent mixed signals. He warned that the U.S. strikes were a direct response to attacks on shipping and cautioned that “if it happens again, it will get much worse!” At the same time, he appeared to rule out a prolonged military campaign, saying “anything that happens is going to happen very fast.” He also hinted that the U.S. military might “just finish the job.”

The conflict has continued to intensify. On Wednesday, the U.S. reinstated its blockade on Iranian ports, which had been suspended under the interim agreement. In recent days, American strikes have expanded into northern Iran, hitting targets well beyond the strait region. On Friday, the U.S. struck bridges and power stations in southern Iran, including a communications tower it said was used by the Revolutionary Guard to monitor maritime activity at one of Iran’s main ports.

Iran reported Friday that U.S. strikes since the resumption of hostilities have killed at least 46 people and left more than 400 others wounded.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to go after civilian infrastructure in Iran — at one point earlier in the war vowing to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” — though he had consistently pulled back from those threats when diplomatic progress appeared possible.

Iran’s leadership may now believe yet another boundary has been crossed. On Friday and again on Saturday, Iran attacked a water desalination plant in Kuwait, a country with an extremely dry climate that depends heavily on such facilities.

Trump has also floated the idea of seizing control of the strait by force, potentially by taking over one or more strategic islands currently held by Iran — a move that analysts say would require a significantly larger naval force and possibly tens of thousands of ground troops.

FRANKFURT — Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced Saturday that the country is raising its security status from an “abstract threat level” to a “high threat level,” citing an increase in intelligence reports pointing to potential dangers.

Speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Dobrindt warned that the threat of attacks must now be considered a constant reality. “This means that the risk of attacks must be reckoned with at all times in Germany,” he was quoted as saying.

The minister made clear that the danger is not vague or distant. “Plans for attacks against our country are clearly discernible,” he added, pointing to threats directed at German infrastructure, individuals, and institutions.

Germany’s Interior Ministry had not responded to requests for additional information at the time of publication.

The announcement comes after a string of violent incidents in Germany in recent years. Last month, a Saudi doctor was sentenced to life in prison for a deadly attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where he drove a rented BMW into crowds at a historic market just days before Christmas in 2024, killing six people and injuring hundreds more.

In a separate case, a German court last year convicted a Syrian citizen for carrying out an Islamic State-inspired stabbing attack at a festival in the western city of Solingen in 2024. Three people were killed and 10 others were injured in that attack.

A devastating fire tore through the city of Drammen in southern Norway on Friday, destroying more than 100 homes and prompting a mass evacuation of the surrounding area, according to local police and the country’s national public broadcaster.

Authorities say the fire ignited in a townhouse at approximately 3:30 p.m. Friday before rapidly spreading throughout the neighborhood and into adjacent forest areas. Crews were still battling the blaze into Saturday morning in an effort to bring it fully under control.

Norway’s public broadcaster, NRK, reported that hundreds of displaced residents sought shelter at a designated evacuation center set up in response to the emergency.

Police confirmed that no residents have been reported missing. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Drammen is located approximately 34 kilometers — about 21 miles — southwest of the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

MOSCOW — Multiple waves of Ukrainian drone strikes left seven workers dead and dozens injured across Russia on Saturday, while a separate attack set an oil depot ablaze near the country’s capital, according to regional governors.

Governor Evgeniy Pervyshov reported that Ukrainian drones struck a warehouse belonging to Wildberries — Russia’s largest online retailer — in the city of Kotovsk, located in the Tambov region approximately 475 kilometers (295 miles) southeast of Moscow. Seven people working the overnight shift were killed at the scene, and 25 others were hurt in the attack.

Pervyshov noted on Telegram that 28 incoming drones had been intercepted before reaching their target. “If they had achieved their goal, the number of civilian casualties could have been much higher,” he stated.

A second Wildberries warehouse was also struck — this one in Elektrostal, a city to the east of Moscow. Governor Andrei Vorobyov of the Moscow region confirmed that 24 people sustained injuries in that attack.

Wildberries co-founder and CEO Tatyana Kim called it a “terrible night” for both Russia and the company, extending her condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.

In the city of Noginsk, also within the Moscow region, falling drone debris triggered a fire at a local oil depot. Governor Vorobyov said two individuals were injured there, and a maternity hospital located nearby was evacuated as a precaution. He did not provide details on the extent of the damage to the oil facility.

LITOCHORO, Greece — Crowned with snow for much of the year and rising 2,918 meters (9,573 feet) from a base nearly at sea level, Mount Olympus has stirred human imagination for thousands of years. In ancient Greek belief, this towering, mist-draped peak was where Zeus, ruler of the gods, held his throne. Now, modern Greeks are hoping to see their country’s highest mountain earn a place on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List.

The nomination for Mount Olympus — put forward as a mixed cultural and natural site — is scheduled to be considered when the World Heritage Committee holds its annual meeting in Busan, South Korea, running through July 29.

“Olympus is our life. It is the place we grew up in,” said Evagelos Geroliolios, mayor of Dion-Olympus, whose offices are based in Litochoro, the mountain’s principal town. “It is the place we see every day, but at the same time, it is also a place which carries with it myth, history, biodiversity, extraordinary beauty and a very great cultural weight.”

Few places hold as prominent a role in ancient Greek mythology as Mount Olympus. Legend holds that Zeus established his court atop the mountain after a 10-year conflict with his father, Cronus, that ended the rule of the Titans.

Interest in the mountain could get an additional lift this week with the theatrical release of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” a new cinematic adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. In the film, the mountain serves as the residence of Zeus and the Olympian gods who shape the wanderings of Odysseus.

Archaeological digs on one of the mountain’s lower peaks have revealed an open-air sanctuary, with the earliest artifacts tracing back to the Hellenistic period, spanning from 323 B.C. to 30 B.C. Greece’s original UNESCO nomination suggests this sanctuary may be the very one referenced by the ancient philosopher and historian Plutarch, who wrote in the 2nd century about processions to an Olympus peak for animal sacrifices offered to Zeus.

The mountain’s religious significance did not fade with the rise of Christianity. A chapel on the peak known as Prophet Elias, standing at 2,803 meters, is thought to be the highest-elevation chapel in the Christian Orthodox world. The mountain’s Enipeas Gorge contains the ruins of a monastery established in 1542, and about a 20-minute walk away lies the Holy Cave of St. Dionysios — a chapel set within a natural cave from which a small spring flows, believed to carry holy water.

Beyond its mythological and religious heritage, the mountain’s slopes — which stretch nearly to the shoreline — shelter a rich variety of plant and animal life, including species found nowhere else. It is this rare combination of cultural history, ancient myth, natural scenery, and biodiversity that residents hope will earn Olympus its designation as a World Heritage site.

“It is a place we love. It is a place that many people from all over the world visit to see, to live, to experience. We want to protect it,” Geroliolios said. He added that inclusion on UNESCO’s list would be “something very big that goes beyond not just local boundaries, but national boundaries. It is something that concerns the entire world. It is very important.”

Greece first set the process in motion back in 2014, when it added Mount Olympus to its Tentative List — the required first step before any formal UNESCO nomination can be submitted. Countries typically use the Tentative List to identify sites they plan to formally nominate within the following five to ten years.

The full nomination process involves a preliminary review, followed by submission of a comprehensive nomination file. That file is then evaluated over 14 months by advisory bodies, including the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their findings are then brought before the World Heritage Committee, where delegates from 21 countries cast votes on each nominated site.

Success is not guaranteed for Greece’s bid. A draft version of the Busan meeting’s agenda indicates the committee is likely to refer the nomination back to Greece and request more detailed information before moving forward.

Even so, those who live near the mountain remain hopeful that its extraordinary combination of cultural and natural assets will ultimately secure it a spot on the list — and with it, stronger protections for the mountain itself.

Mayor Geroliolios acknowledged that a World Heritage designation would come with added responsibility, saying it “places some greater obligations on our part to protect this environment.”

Environmental concerns are also top of mind for mountain guide Babis Marinidis, who serves as president of the Alpine Club of Litochoro. He noted that a UNESCO designation would likely draw even more visitors to the area, raising a pressing question: “How many people can this mountain, this ecosystem, bear?”

Marinidis pointed out that although much of Olympus has been a designated national park for decades and regulations exist, many visitors openly disregard them — routinely ignoring signs prohibiting swimming or camping. The steady increase in foot traffic has prompted local officials to explore entrance fees and visitor registration systems. “I used to be against that,” Marinidis said. “But now with so many people, I believe some limit must be imposed.”

The mountain draws hikers and climbers from around the globe, drawn by its mythological legacy and dramatic terrain. Reaching the summit does not require advanced technical climbing skills, but the mountain demands serious respect. Unpredictable weather and dangerous terrain have taken many lives over the years. Most recently, a 64-year-old Greek hiker died on July 11 after collapsing on a trail. In May, rescue teams recovered the body of a 25-year-old Spanish man several days after he went missing while attempting to summit in snowy conditions.

“You need to be careful,” said 32-year-old hiker Triantafyllos Giannospyros, who was visiting the mountain for the first time. Safety should always be a priority, he said, but added: “With care and with good organization, it isn’t something you should be afraid of.”

Stavroula Vourou, who operates a hotel in Litochoro — the town from which many hikers begin their ascent — offered a similar perspective. “Everyone sets off to go up and conquer a mountain that needs respect,” she said. “You respect this mountain, it respects you too.”

NEW DELHI — Authorities in India moved a well-known activist to a hospital in New Delhi on Saturday after his condition worsened following 20 days without food, as part of an ongoing protest tied to the country’s rapidly growing Cockroach Janta Party education reform movement.

Security forces increased their presence at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest area in New Delhi surrounded by police barricades, where activist Sonam Wangchuk had been camped alongside students and Cockroach Party supporters. The group is calling for the resignation of the education minister following allegations that exam questions were leaked ahead of testing.

Wangchuk, a 59-year-old engineer and education reform advocate, has become a central figure for the movement. The Cockroach Janta Party itself emerged in May after the Chief Justice of India’s Supreme Court, Surya Kant, compared certain unemployed young people to “cockroaches” during an unrelated court hearing. Rather than take offense, supporters adopted the term as a symbol of toughness, transforming it into a satirical political campaign that attracted more than 21 million Instagram followers within just a few days.

Among the movement’s key demands are the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged exam leaks, a complete overhaul of the national examination system, and financial compensation for the families of students who died by suicide in connection with the leaked exams or test results.

Delhi Police confirmed that Wangchuk was taken to the hospital due to his deteriorating health, stating the transfer followed both medical guidance and a court order. Officers noted that a brief disturbance broke out when some protesters attempted to prevent the move.

The Cockroach Party pushed back on that account, posting on social media that the government had “forcefully abducted” Wangchuk “without his or his family’s consent.”

In response to the growing tension, authorities deployed additional police officers and paramilitary personnel and placed barricades around the Jantar Mantar protest site. Police described the increased security as a precautionary measure and asked demonstrators to work cooperatively with officials.

The abortion debate playing out in the United States is having life-or-death consequences for women living thousands of miles away — particularly across the African continent.

For many years, American anti-abortion organizations have pushed for tighter restrictions on abortion both at home and internationally. This year, the Trump administration gave new energy to the movement that seeks to export conservative “family values” abroad, announcing broad new limits on US funding for any organizations involved in abortion-related work overseas. Those restrictions could affect as much as $30 billion in aid.

These new policies are layered on top of years of groundwork already laid by US anti-abortion groups in Africa, a region where healthcare systems are heavily reliant on money from foreign donors.

A financial analysis conducted by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change found that 17 American anti-abortion nonprofit organizations spent a combined total of more than $9.3 million across Africa during 2023 and 2024. That figure comes on top of more than $16 million those same groups directed to the continent between 2019 and 2022 — and researchers say even that earlier number is likely an undercount.

The influx of US support has given confidence to those who harass people working in reproductive healthcare. Medical professionals, nurses, and activists in multiple African countries have been detained by authorities, targeted with threats on social media, and hit with lawsuits.

Africa is already considered the most dangerous region in the world for women of reproductive age, recording the highest rates of maternal deaths and unsafe abortions anywhere on the globe. While the Trump administration and anti-abortion organizations argue they are working to save lives, healthcare workers and advocates on the ground say the real outcome is more women dying.

When the Associated Press asked the US State Department to comment on the Trump administration’s new rules governing American foreign aid, the department responded: “The American people expect their tax dollars to support programs that save lives … and reflect American values, not fund abortion-related activities, left-wing social agendas, or wasteful overseas bureaucracies.”

The department added: “U.S. assistance continues to support a wide range of maternal and child health services as part of the America First Global Health Strategy.”

Tracking the full amount of money that American anti-abortion charitable groups send to Africa is no easy task. Publicly available tax filings from the 17 organizations examined by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change show that the money flowing to Africa jumped 50% between 2019 and 2022, surpassing $16 million. Funding continued to climb after that, with those organizations spending nearly $9.4 million across Africa in 2023 and 2024, according to previously unreported data the institute analyzed.

Even so, the institute’s Claire Provost cautioned that what’s visible is “just the tip of the iceberg.” Unlike most other tax-exempt nonprofits, US-based churches and certain religious organizations are not required to file annual financial disclosures that detail their income, contributions, and spending.

Marie Stopes International reported in 2024 that staff at its reproductive health clinics in several African countries described facing online attacks and legal pressure from US-based anti-abortion organizations and locally operating groups receiving US funding. In Congo, the organization said health workers had been held for days for providing services that are legally allowed, before being released without any charges filed.

“The extent of the opposition has made abortion providers fearful of coming into work,” the report stated.

In Ethiopia, the group reported that the local head of the US-based Family Watch International had “targeted and trolled members of our senior leadership team on social media” and posted YouTube videos spreading false information about abortion.

In Kenya, the names and home addresses of staff at reproductive rights organizations have been posted publicly online, with accusations of murder leveled against them. The owner of a private abortion clinic in Nairobi said staff have been harassed by police and held in detention, with officials allegedly demanding bribes and threatening criminal charges for those who refuse to pay. The clinic owner spoke without being identified out of concern for personal safety.

Kenya’s Health Ministry, Justice Ministry, and the government spokesperson’s office all failed to respond to repeated requests for comment from the Associated Press, including detailed questions sent by email.

An international agreement signed by African nations roughly two decades ago declared access to safe abortion a human right. The agreement, known as the Maputo Protocol, requires countries that signed it to legalize abortion in cases involving rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or threats to a woman’s health. However, enforcement has been inconsistent, leaving many women to seek out dangerous, illegal procedures. Each year, more than 6 million unsafe abortions are recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the African Institute for Development Policy.

Last year, anti-abortion Christian organizations from the United States, Europe, and Africa joined senior Kenyan officials at a conference held in Nairobi focused on “Promoting and Protecting Family Values in Challenging Times.”

Charles Kanjama, vice chairman of the African Christian Professionals Forum, which organized the conference, described the abortion debate as “a culture war.”

The anti-abortion movement appears to be gaining ground. In May, a Kenyan appeals court reversed a ruling that had affirmed abortion access as a fundamental right — a legal challenge led by Kanjama, who described the court’s decision as having “restored constitutional balance.”

In June, representatives from 20 African countries gathered at a conference in Ghana and finalized a draft charter calling for the rejection of sexual and reproductive health rights. That charter is set to be voted on by the African Union next year. Sharon Slater, co-founder of the US-based anti-abortion group Family Watch International, was among those raising money for the charter’s passage at the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this year.

KISUMU, Kenya — For decades, American anti-abortion organizations have pushed both at home and overseas to limit access to abortion services. Their greatest domestic victory came with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Now, the Trump administration is giving fresh energy to the movement that seeks to export what it calls “family values” to countries around the world.

At the annual March for Life rally in Washington, Vice President JD Vance announced broad new limits on U.S. funding for nongovernmental organizations, foreign governments, and United Nations agencies that support abortion access, gender-affirming care, and diversity programs abroad.

“We’re going to start blocking every international NGO that performs or promotes abortion abroad from receiving a dollar of U.S. money,” Vance told the crowd in January.

These expanded restrictions build on the work already being done by conservative American nonprofits in Africa — a region where healthcare systems rely heavily on foreign aid. Africa also has the world’s highest estimated share of unsafe abortions and the highest maternal death rates, including the greatest number of pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 abortions.

This report is part of an ongoing series examining maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the world’s fastest-growing population and accounts for 70% of all pregnancy-related deaths globally. Roughly 180,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes across the continent every year.

The new policy represents a dramatic expansion of a previous U.S. rule that cut off assistance to overseas organizations offering abortion-related services. Experts say at least $30 billion in U.S. aid could be affected, with far-reaching effects on health policy worldwide.

“We’re seeing opportunity here to have a consistently pro-life ethic,” said Nicole Hunt of Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian evangelical organization. “We’ve been influencing health policies for a long time with our foreign aid. This is just a new direction,” she told the Associated Press.

At the center of the controversy is an international agreement signed by African nations two decades ago that declared safe abortion a human right. Called the Maputo Protocol, it requires signatory countries to allow abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal malformation, or risk to a woman’s health. However, enforcement has been inconsistent, pushing many women toward dangerous, illegal procedures. Sub-Saharan Africa sees more than 6 million unsafe abortions annually, according to the African Institute for Development Policy.

Energized by President Donald Trump’s policies, U.S. anti-abortion organizations are now working to eliminate even this limited access to safe abortion procedures.

In Nairobi, Nardos Hagos of the International Planned Parenthood Federation said she is gravely concerned about what lies ahead.

“We’ve now moved into a new era where we are the ones who are in opposition because the most powerful and influential supporters of reproductive health — the U.S. and a lot of Europe — are now more aligned with anti-rights groups,” she said. “We’re gonna see more women dying from unsafe abortions.”

Tracking the total amount of money U.S. anti-abortion charitable groups send to Africa is difficult. Publicly available tax filings from 17 such organizations show that money directed to Africa jumped 50% between 2019 and 2022, reaching more than $16 million, according to an analysis by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change. The organizations then spent nearly $9.4 million in Africa during 2023 and 2024, according to previously unreported data examined by the institute.

That figure is “just the tip of the iceberg,” said the institute’s Claire Provost. “What we’re seeing here is just a fraction of what the real investment on the continent is,” she said, noting that unlike many tax-exempt nonprofits, U.S.-based churches and certain religious organizations are not required to file annual financial disclosures detailing their revenue and spending.

Provost said it is not possible to see “even limited information” about how much money The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, among others, channels to Africa. The Salt Lake City-based church — widely known as the Mormon church — is “increasingly active on the continent, including opposing sexual and reproductive rights issues,” Provost said. With more than 1 million followers across Africa, the church has hosted “Strengthening Families” conferences on the continent over the past eight years.

Sean E.R. Donnelly, the church’s communications manager for Africa, said in an interview with the AP that about a quarter of the $1.5 billion the church spent overseas last year went to Africa, funding development projects “with the goal of helping people, especially families,” including work in healthcare, education, and emergency relief.

When asked about women’s reproductive rights and abortion, Donnelly said the church was “not really active” in those areas, though he acknowledged the topics may come up among African partners during church-sponsored events.

“We have the deputy prime minister, we have the ministries of gender, we have all the ministers who are relevant to family, and we’re helping them … as they craft policy and strategy to make sure that we protect the family,” Donnelly said of the conferences.

Asked specifically about the church’s stance on abortion, he provided a written statement saying the church generally opposes elective abortion in most cases but allows exceptions for rape, incest, or danger to a woman’s health when counseling its members. He also stated via email that the church carries out no activities related to abortion or reproductive rights.

One church-sponsored conference last year was held in Sierra Leone at a time when the country was close to decriminalizing abortion. Local rights groups say pressure from religious lobbies stalled that effort. Activists have raised concerns about the influence of local religious organizations whose strategies resemble those of some conservative American Christian groups. In response to AP questions about the conference and any influence on abortion-related issues, Donnelly said, “This is not how the church operates in Africa or globally.”

Determining how U.S. money is used once it arrives in Africa is complicated by weak financial disclosure requirements in many African countries. Focus on the Family spent $370,000 in Africa between 2019 and 2023, according to the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, which notes that figure likely understates the group’s actual reach and influence. Focus on the Family’s Hunt said the group’s mission is “to change hearts and minds on abortion” worldwide but declined to share specifics about its work in Africa.

Hannah Ruguru made a personal vow to help women access safe abortions after her own sister died following an illegal procedure. But her work at a reproductive health clinic in Kisumu, in rural western Kenya, has become increasingly dangerous.

She has been screamed at by protesters and faced so much online harassment on Facebook that she deleted her account. “Sometimes you can get scared,” Ruguru said. But “at the end of the day, I’m helping women.”

Marie Stopes International, which operates the clinic where Ruguru works, reported in 2024 that staff in several African countries described online harassment and legal attacks from U.S.-based groups and U.S.-funded local organizations. In Congo, the report said, health workers were detained for days for providing legally permitted services before being released without charges.

“The extent of the opposition has made abortion providers fearful of coming into work,” the report stated.

In Ethiopia, the group said the head of the local office of U.S.-based Family Watch International has “targeted and trolled members of our senior leadership team on social media” and posted YouTube videos spreading anti-abortion misinformation. In Kenya, the names and home addresses of staff at reproductive rights organizations have been posted online, with accusations of murder.

The owner of a private abortion clinic in Nairobi said staff have been harassed and detained by police, with officials demanding bribes and threatening criminal charges if they are not paid. The owner spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

Musoba Kitui, regional director of Ipas Africa Alliance, which advocates for reproductive rights and safe abortion care, said the shifts in U.S. foreign aid policy combined with “this advancing American interest in ideology in Africa is really concerning.” “We think the consequences are going to be dire,” Kitui said, particularly for women and marginalized communities including LGBTQ+ individuals.

Last year, anti-abortion Christian groups from the U.S., Europe, and Africa, along with senior Kenyan officials, gathered in Nairobi for a conference titled “Promoting and Protecting Family Values in Challenging Times.” A Poland-based anti-abortion organization called Ordo Iuris distributed a guide in four languages — including Swahili — with advice on lobbying international bodies such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the African Union.

Travis Weber, vice president of the Family Research Council, a Washington-based evangelical group involved in anti-abortion advocacy, said he attended the Nairobi conference to “defend the family as God designed it.”

Charles Kanjama, vice chairman of the African Christian Professionals Forum, which organized the conference, said that in the past, international aid frequently supported reproductive rights — but the landscape has shifted. “We are hoping that … we can start attracting money from people who think like us,” said Kanjama, considered one of Africa’s most prominent anti-abortion figures. “It’s a culture war, really.”

The anti-abortion movement does appear to be gaining ground. In June, representatives from 20 African countries finalized a draft charter at a conference in Ghana calling for the rejection of sexual and reproductive health rights. That charter is set to be voted on by the African Union next year. Family Watch International’s co-founder, Sharon Slater, was among those raising money for the charter’s passage at the European Parliament in Brussels this year.

In Kenya — one of Africa’s wealthier nations — an average of seven women die every day from complications related to unsafe abortions, according to the African Population and Health Research Center. Kenya’s 2010 constitution allows abortion when a woman’s life or health is at risk, and subsequent court rulings have extended that to cases of rape, incest, or serious threat to a woman’s mental health.

However, a significant legal gray area remains. Kenya’s penal code, which dates back to the colonial era, still criminalizes abortion providers and women who seek the procedure, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison. Most public hospitals do not perform abortions, leaving women to choose between expensive private clinic services or dangerous illegal methods, according to healthcare officials.

In May, a Kenyan appeals court overturned a ruling that had affirmed abortion access as a fundamental right — a case led by Kanjama, who called the decision a restoration of “constitutional balance.”

The Kenyan Health Ministry, Justice Ministry, and the government spokesperson’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the AP.

The U.S. State Department, responding to AP questions about the Trump administration’s new overseas aid rules, said: “The American people expect their tax dollars to support programs that save lives … and reflect American values, not fund abortion-related activities, left-wing social agendas, or wasteful overseas bureaucracies.” The department added: “U.S. assistance continues to support a wide range of maternal and child health services as part of the America First Global Health Strategy.”

In Kenya, doctors are required to treat women who arrive at hospitals suffering from complications following illegal abortions, including severe bleeding, infections, and loss of their uteruses — and these are the cases that most often reach public hospitals.

“By the time the women come, we are often dealing with a life-threatening situation,” said Dominic Omollo, the reproductive health coordinator in Bondo, western Kenya.

Even as U.S., international, and Africa-based anti-abortion groups say their goal is to protect life, healthcare providers and activists on the ground say the practical outcome is more unsafe abortions and more women dying.

In Karabok, a rural Kenyan village, two trees mark the burial site of Mary Olouch, just steps from where the 25-year-old bled to death after an illegal abortion. “She did not open up to anyone,” said Loice Ochieng, a community health volunteer responsible for family planning in the village.

Olouch already had a young child when she discovered she was pregnant again. She kept it from her husband. When he returned home one evening to find her bleeding, he rushed her to the hospital — but she did not survive.

Olouch did not qualify for an abortion at a public hospital and could not afford a private clinic on her modest income from selling fish. Abortion carries deep stigma in rural communities, and husbands often forbid their wives from using contraception, Ochieng said.

Following Olouch’s death, women in Karabok began speaking more openly about abortion — a subject that had previously been nearly unspeakable in the community. Now, Ochieng said, if women “have a problem, they come to me, they ask. Because they have seen that this thing can cause death.”

Emergency crews in China worked frantically Saturday to locate survivors after a devastating landslide in the southwestern city of Chongqing claimed at least eight lives and left 34 people still missing.

The disaster struck Pengshui County on Friday morning, when enormous quantities of rock and soil cascaded down a hillside, burying more than ten residential buildings, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Ten survivors were pulled from the debris and transported to the hospital, while authorities relocated more than 1,100 residents from the area.

Photographs and video from the scene revealed the sheer scale of the destruction — one of the boulders appeared to be larger than a multi-story building, with wreckage spread across the rugged, steep landscape. One structure had its upper portion completely crushed, and a vehicle was visible half-buried near another building.

Officials said the landslide involved approximately 18,000 cubic meters of rocks and debris. The single largest boulder measured around 3,000 cubic meters, according to Wang Chuanjun, the head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, who spoke at a news conference Friday.

CCTV reported that heavy rain continued to pound Pengshui from Friday night into Saturday morning, with one weather station recording 19.2 centimeters — nearly 8 inches — of rainfall. The ongoing wet conditions made the rescue mission significantly more difficult. As the rain began to let up somewhat, search teams were able to enter the site and assess the collapsed buildings and nearby riverbank areas.

Rescue workers are currently operating around the perimeter of the massive boulders, but crews will eventually need to search beneath them — a dangerous task given the risk of the unstable rocks shifting or sliding. CCTV reported that once the surrounding search is finished, workers plan to drill into the boulders and pack the holes with explosives to break them apart.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced Saturday that it has allocated 30 million yuan — approximately $4.4 million — in relief funding to help rebuild infrastructure and restore public services in the disaster zone.

The landslide took place near a stretch of the Wujiang River, which winds through karst mountain terrain dotted with small communities and terraced hillsides. Pengshui County sits in the southeastern portion of Chongqing, along the borders of Hubei and Guizhou provinces.

Colombian state-owned energy giant Ecopetrol announced Friday that a cyberattack resulted in the theft of data connected to approximately 3,300 user accounts. The company also acknowledged it cannot “guarantee” the breach will not have a “material adverse” financial impact.

Despite the alarming disclosure, Ecopetrol said that as of Friday, no critical disruptions to its operations or production capacity had been detected, and no direct financial damage had been confirmed. Additionally, the hacker has not yet publicly released any of the stolen information.

Ecopetrol ranks among Latin America’s largest energy producers and is Colombia’s biggest company overall, responsible for more than 60% of the nation’s hydrocarbon output.

While the identity of the attacker remains unknown, the hacker has reached out to the company with extortion demands and has threatened to make the compromised data public if those demands are not met.

The breach impacted cloud-based file storage systems across 15 subsidiaries, including Ecopetrol itself. The company added that it successfully blocked a separate ransomware attack attempt during the incident.

Ecopetrol said it is still evaluating the full scope of the breach, which may involve confidential, proprietary, or personal data. The company cautioned that the incident could ultimately affect its business operations, reputation, financial results, or overall financial standing.

LONDON (AP) — Veteran Labour Party politician and former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is poised to take the reins as Britain’s next prime minister on Monday, formally assuming power from Keir Starmer, who stepped down as Labour leader last month.

Burnham ran unopposed in the Labour leadership race, becoming the only candidate to gather sufficient backing from fellow party lawmakers to succeed Starmer. Since Labour currently controls a majority in Parliament, whoever leads the party also holds the office of prime minister.

Of the 401 Labour lawmakers eligible to vote, 349 threw their support behind Burnham. He was officially declared the new Labour leader at a special party conference held Friday. However, he does not formally take office until Monday, when he travels to Buckingham Palace for a meeting with King Charles III — the ceremonial step that completes the transition. Until that meeting takes place, Starmer continues to serve as caretaker prime minister.

Here’s a closer look at how and why Britain is welcoming a new prime minister just two years after Starmer’s party swept to a landslide election victory:

Under Britain’s parliamentary system of government, a ruling party has the ability to swap out its leader in the middle of a term. When that happens, the new party leader steps into the role of prime minister without any need for a nationwide general election. This can occur when a prime minister voluntarily resigns as party leader or is pushed out through a formal leadership challenge.

The next scheduled general election does not need to occur until 2029 — five years after the last one, which was held in 2024.

Starmer announced on June 22 that he was stepping down as Labour leader after less than two years in power. His time in office was plagued by a string of political stumbles, most notably his decision to appoint someone with close ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.

Labour’s significant losses in a round of local elections held in May put enormous pressure on Starmer, with many of his own lawmakers calling for him to quit. The tipping point came when Burnham — widely seen as a favored figure within the party — won a special election for a parliamentary seat. That victory gave Burnham the platform he needed, and Starmer ultimately yielded to the growing calls to resign.

Starmer’s departure automatically set off a Labour leadership contest. Party rules state that a lawmaker can enter a leadership race if at least one-fifth of Labour’s House of Commons members back their candidacy. Burnham easily cleared that bar, and with no other candidates stepping forward, the outcome was never in doubt.

It is worth noting that this kind of leadership transition is far from unusual in British politics. In fact, four of the six prime ministers Britain has had over the past decade came to power through internal party contests rather than direct public votes.

During the 2010s, both Theresa May and Boris Johnson rose to the position of prime minister after winning Conservative Party leadership races that were triggered by their predecessors’ mid-term resignations. When Johnson himself announced he was stepping down in 2022, the Conservative Party held another leadership contest, and party members chose Liz Truss as his replacement. Truss lasted just 49 days before she too resigned, and was succeeded by Rishi Sunak through the same internal process.

With Burnham’s ascension, Britain will have its seventh prime minister in a decade — a turbulent stretch in which a rapid parade of leaders each struggled, to varying degrees, to navigate the complicated and divisive fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

After so many leadership changes in recent years, the ceremonial transfer of power has become a familiar sequence for many British citizens.

On Monday, Starmer will deliver a farewell address to the public before heading to Buckingham Palace, where he will hold a brief audience with the king and formally submit his resignation.

Once Starmer departs, Burnham will arrive at the palace, where King Charles will formally invite him to establish a new government. The private ceremony is historically referred to as the “Kissing of Hands” — though in practice, no hands are actually kissed, and the exchange is more likely to involve a handshake.

After leaving the palace, Burnham will officially hold the title of the 59th person ever to serve as British prime minister. He will then travel by car to his official residence at 10 Downing Street, where he is expected to deliver his first public remarks as the country’s new leader.

The entire process is typically aired live on television and is expected to be completed within a matter of hours.

Iran launched a new wave of attacks against U.S. allies in the Gulf region on Saturday, coming after a seventh straight night of American military strikes on Iranian military targets, including logistics infrastructure. The renewed fighting comes one week after a fragile ceasefire between the two countries fell apart.

Both nations also took aim at maritime traffic in the region. The United States said it was enforcing a naval blockade of Iran, while Iran claimed it was stopping vessels that had violated its navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz — the critical waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows.

Global oil prices jumped more than 4% on Friday, reaching their highest point in over a month. The spike is adding political pressure on President Donald Trump as his Republican Party works to maintain control of Congress in November elections.

Washington and Tehran have been pushing the boundaries of military escalation since their ceasefire broke down last week, raising fears of a full return to open warfare.

The U.S. military’s Central Command announced it had completed its latest round of strikes, hitting surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage facilities, and maritime capabilities. “U.S. forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets,” Central Command said in a statement. “More than 50,000 American service members are operating across the Middle East and remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”

Iranian media reported Saturday that several missiles struck power facilities and desalination pumps in the southern Iranian city of Jask, according to a local official. That official said drinking water had been cut off in surrounding villages as a result of the attack.

The U.S. military said its forces redirected four commercial ships, disabled one vessel, and boarded another as part of its naval blockade enforcement. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards countered that four ships violating its shipping rules were stopped from passing through the strait using a combined missile and drone operation.

Iranian media, citing the Revolutionary Guards, also reported that two oil tankers exploded and caught fire after passing through a mined area south of the strait. The U.S. military rejected that report as false.

Separately, armed men seized another vessel off the coast of Yemen, raising new concerns about security at the mouth of the Red Sea — another major chokepoint for global oil shipments.

Iran’s state television quoted the Revolutionary Guards as warning that until U.S. “aggression” ends, it will not be possible to export chemical fertilizers or even a “single drop of oil and gas” from the region. Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, also warned on Friday against any U.S. escalation or attempts to seize Iranian territory.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the escalating conflict, particularly regarding what his spokesperson described as “attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region.”

Iranian media reported early Saturday that strikes hit coastal Hormozgan Province on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz. State television said three people were killed and eight wounded, and that two bridges and a road tunnel were damaged. Explosions or strikes were also reported in the cities of Sirik, Ahvaz, Yazd, Jask, and Khorramabad during Friday night and early Saturday.

On Friday, Iranian state media reported that at least five bridges in southern Iran were struck in U.S. attacks. Seven people were reported killed in strikes on bridges in the southern port of Bandar Khamir, where a train station was also hit. An airport was reported struck further east in Iranshahr, a province that borders Pakistan.

President Trump has threatened broad air strikes on Iranian infrastructure and has not ruled out a ground assault on Iran’s coast or islands. U.S. officials have said the attacks on southern Iran are partly designed to keep military options open for Trump.

Such actions risk prompting Iran to strike the vital infrastructure of vulnerable Gulf nations, or encouraging its allies in Yemen to further disrupt global energy supplies by targeting Red Sea shipping.

Iran announced it had launched attacks on Gulf countries hosting U.S. airbases, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan, as well as targeting a U.S. vessel in the northern Indian Ocean. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense issued early warnings — the first in several months — in at least two locations, though no damage had yet been reported. Earlier in the conflict, Iran had struck some of the kingdom’s energy facilities.

Kuwaiti authorities confirmed that one of the country’s power generation and water desalination stations was hit in an Iranian attack, causing damage, a fire, and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units. The Kuwaiti army later confirmed it was actively responding to Iranian drone attacks.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a U.S. drone depot in Bahrain and destroyed Bahrain’s main artificial intelligence center using ballistic missiles and drones. Iran’s state news agency also reported that the Iranian navy fired a shore-to-sea cruise missile at what it described as a hostile U.S. vessel in the northern Indian Ocean, with Iran’s army claiming the launch caused “fear and panic” and forced the vessel to move out of range.

SYDNEY — Australian police are reporting another shark attack, this time off the coast of Tasmania, where a 31-year-old male diver was bitten Saturday morning in what authorities believe was an encounter with a broadnose sevengill shark.

The incident took place at approximately 9:10 a.m. local time (2310 GMT) in the Adventure Bay area of Bruny Island, roughly 50 metres — about 164 feet — from shore. The shark involved is estimated to have been around 2 metres, or approximately 6.6 feet, in length.

Police Inspector Darren Latham described how the situation unfolded in an official statement: “The man was able to return to shore and was assisted by fellow divers.”

The diver suffered non-life-threatening wounds to his forearm and was airlifted to a hospital, arriving in stable condition. Authorities noted no additional sightings of the shark following the attack.

Bruny Island is a remote part of the island state of Tasmania, located about a one-hour flight from the mainland city of Melbourne, which sits roughly 445 kilometres — or 275 miles — away. Approximately 40 percent of the island consists of wilderness or protected lands.

The Tasmania attack is one of several shark incidents that have rattled Australia in recent months. Last month, a 35-year-old woman was left critically injured after a shark attack in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, prompting officials to launch a safety review at popular beaches across the country.

Also in June, a man lost his life after being attacked by a shark while fishing off the coast of Western Australia, marking the most recent fatal encounter.

May brought two more deadly incidents. A 39-year-old man died following a shark attack while fishing on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Just one week before that, a 38-year-old was fatally attacked near an island off Perth in Western Australia.

The trend is not new. In January, dozens of beaches along Australia’s east coast were shut down after four shark attacks occurred within a span of just two days.

Although shark encounters are still considered statistically uncommon, data from the Australian Shark Incident Database — analyzed by Reuters — shows the numbers have been climbing. Australia has averaged close to 29 shark incidents per year over the past decade, a notable increase compared to roughly 16 incidents per year during the 2000s.

The U.S. military confirmed late Thursday that it had wrapped up another round of strikes against Iran, carried out under orders from President Donald Trump — the seventh night in a row that American forces have launched attacks.

According to a statement from U.S. Central Command, the assault involved a combination of fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, along with additional military assets.

The targets struck included, in the military’s words, “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

Iran responded by launching its own strikes against U.S. allies in the Gulf on Friday, as both sides continued to go after infrastructure. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz also came under further attack.

Iranian state media reported that at least five bridges in the country’s southern region were destroyed in U.S. strikes on Friday. Seven people were reported dead following attacks on bridges in the southern port city of Bandar Khamir, where the train station was also hit. An airport in Iranshahr — a city in a province along the border with Pakistan — was also reported struck.

On the other side, authorities in Kuwait, a U.S. ally, said that one of the country’s facilities for generating power and desalinating water was damaged in an Iranian attack.

Trump, meanwhile, repeated his threats this week to target Iranian energy infrastructure and warned that bridges could be hit as soon as next week. Those threats have drawn scrutiny from legal experts, who noted earlier this year that striking civilian-essential sites could constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks on infrastructure that civilians depend on.

Trump drew widespread international criticism in April after threatening to destroy Iran’s entire civilization, though a ceasefire with Tehran was eventually reached at that time.

The current conflict traces back to February 28, when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran. Iran responded with strikes on Israel and on Gulf states that host American military bases. Since then, U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands of people and forced millions from their homes.

The war has also driven up oil prices and sent shockwaves through global financial markets.

New Delhi authorities have hospitalized social activist Sonam Wangchuk after his health took a turn for the worse on the 21st day of an ongoing hunger strike aimed at forcing India’s federal education minister out of office.

Wangchuk, who is 59 years old, began refusing food on June 28 in a show of solidarity with India’s youth Cockroach Janta Party, known as CJP. The group is calling for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to step down following the leak of exam papers in May — a scandal that impacted millions of students across the country.

Delhi police confirmed that Wangchuk was transferred to a medical facility “for essential medical care” under court orders after his condition worsened on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, the Delhi High Court directed officials to closely monitor Wangchuk’s health and step in if necessary. The court’s action came in response to a petition requesting that authorities force-feed the activist as his condition continued to decline.

Members of the CJP announced plans to march to India’s parliament on July 20, coinciding with the start of the monsoon legislative session, to push for Pradhan’s removal and call for changes to the country’s exam system.

Throughout the protest, Wangchuk has been a central figure, lying on a mattress on a stage while supporters and visitors gathered around him at the demonstration site.

The federal government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously accused Wangchuk of stirring unrest through what it described as inflammatory remarks made during violent demonstrations in the Himalayan territory of Ladakh, where Wangchuk is from. He spent roughly six months behind bars before being released in March of this year. Wangchuk has rejected those accusations, arguing that the violent protests reflected deep public frustration with the central government.

On the third day of his fast, Wangchuk spoke with Reuters and said he intended to continue fasting for six weeks — unless his life ended before then.

“But hopefully, we don’t have to go that far,” he said at the time. “A sensitive government in a democracy listens to the pains of the people, and I hope they will take action.”