Category: World News

Demonstrations erupted across Israel on Thursday as the country marked 1,000 days since the devastating October 7 Hamas massacre. Protesters gathered outside the residences of government officials, blocked major roads and access routes to the Knesset, and demanded accountability for how the government has handled both the ongoing war and the hostage crisis.

Among the targeted locations were the Hod Hasharon home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch and the residence of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Ohana’s home, where much of the anger was directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent appearance on Channel 14. Protesters took particular issue with Netanyahu’s comment that what had changed since October 7 was that he had “lost a little weight,” with many calling it evidence of “zero management, zero accountability, zero leadership.”

Tensions also flared near the Knesset itself, where demonstrators tried to block access to the parliament building. Protesters reported that police moved in to forcibly remove participants from the area.

At Karkur Junction on Route 65, demonstrators unrolled a large banner that read, “A thousand days of mourning, abandonment, whitewashing, failure,” while others blocked the intersection waving yellow flags. Protests were also documented at Ra’anana Junction.

Outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Danny Elgart, whose brother Itzik Elgart died while in Hamas captivity, addressed the crowd. “Those who came out alive — returned. Those who were abducted alive, abandoned in captivity, murdered and returned in a coffin — did not return,” he said.

Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron Yehudai was killed at the Nova music festival, spoke emotionally about the toll of the past 1,000 days. “1,000 days of a bleeding heart. We find no time for healing, for recovery, because we have to fight for a state commission of inquiry,” he said. Responding to Netanyahu’s remarks, he added: “This is humiliating. This is chutzpah. Disrespect for the families and the citizens of the state. Is this a joke? I haven’t laughed at jokes for a thousand days.”

On a Tel Aviv beach, a sand installation carried the message: “Their blood cries out from the ground. 7. 1000 days of failure, abandonment and bereavement.”

At the United Nations, Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon addressed the General Assembly to mark the milestone. “A thousand days after the October 7 massacre, the world must listen to the victims of terror and to the country fighting terrorism day and night,” he said. “No terrorist deserves a UN badge, a UN salary or a UN cover story. If we want to defeat terrorism, we must stand together against it and not grant it immunity.”

Jewish organizations across Canada are sounding the alarm over a surge in antisemitism that has become so severe, some community members are now seriously exploring leaving the country altogether. Groups are arranging trips to Panama and Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Jewish Canadians who say they no longer feel secure at home.

The Toronto-based Tafsik Organization, a Jewish civil rights group, told The Media Line it is organizing a trip to Panama this month for people interested in relocating, following two earlier trips that drew dozens of participants. Meanwhile, the US-based organization Tulsa Tomorrow reported that more than 1,500 Canadians have expressed interest this year in its exploratory visits to Tulsa, with antisemitism frequently cited as the driving reason for considering a move.

Tulsa Tomorrow expects approximately 85 Canadians to visit this year, with its twice-yearly trips capped at 100 participants. In prior years, those trips attracted no more than 10 Canadians. The organization says it has helped three Canadian families permanently relocate since 2022.

Michael Sachs is one person who already made the move. He left Canada with his family last July after facing serious security threats while serving as director of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Western Canada in Vancouver. The threats were significant enough that police provided him with security assistance, and at one point protesters told his children that their parents were killers.

Sachs recalled that his wife, who had long kept her Star of David hidden, felt comfortable enough to wear it openly when they first visited Tulsa through the Tulsa Tomorrow program. “As a Jew, I feel that Tulsa has been a relief of stress for us as a Jewish family,” he said.

Rivka Campbell, executive director of Beth Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto, said she has noticed more community members weighing immigration to Israel or moves to places they consider safer, such as the United States or Panama. She noted that some older Jewish community members who spend their winters in warmer parts of the US say they feel a sense of relief when they leave Canada. “We hear about how different it is. It’s almost like they can breathe when they leave Toronto,” she told The Media Line.

These conversations are unfolding against the backdrop of a sharp increase in antisemitic incidents that began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. B’nai Brith Canada documented 6,800 antisemitic incidents in 2025 — the highest number recorded since the organization began publishing annual reports in 1982.

Prime Minister Mark Carney stated in a speech last month that more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes in Canada last year were directed at Jewish Canadians, a group that makes up roughly 1% of the country’s population.

In May, three people described by police as “visibly identifiable” members of the Jewish community were shot at with an imitation firearm while standing outside a Toronto synagogue. Following an arrest in the case, acting Deputy Chief Joe Matthews of the Toronto police said, “We recognize that Jewish residents have been living with a heightened sense of fear due to repeated incidents targeting their community, and this only adds to that, which is unacceptable.”

Campbell described the nature of antisemitism as becoming more brazen and open. She argued that existing hate crime laws are not being enforced with enough seriousness. “I know there’s this feeling, ‘Well, if we arrest them, they’ll probably get off.’ So what? So what? Arrest them anyway,” she said. “Send a message that we don’t tolerate hate in any form.”

Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman, who also serves as a member of parliament, told The Media Line that elected officials have failed to enforce the laws already on the books, which she believes has contributed to the rise in antisemitism. “Nobody should have to ask their government to enforce a law, because that’s the government’s job — but that’s where we’re at today. The fact that this is even controversial shows you just how much work we have to do to restore normalcy here in Canada,” she said.

A new federal law set to take effect in July will make it a criminal offense to intimidate or obstruct people trying to access places of worship, schools, and community centers used by identifiable groups. Public Safety Canada wrote in an email to The Media Line that “these measures are intended to address gaps in law enforcement and send a clear and consistent signal that hate will not be tolerated.”

Prime Minister Carney also launched the Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion last month, saying it would evaluate antisemitism in Canada and help develop a coordinated government response to the issue.

Kim Werker, president of the Reform Jewish Community of Canada, told The Media Line that most of the antisemitic content she has personally encountered has been online, but that she has grown more cautious about being openly Jewish in public. “There are times I have tucked my Star of David into my shirt,” she said.

Werker noted that antisemitic language has become more casually used, with some teenagers now hearing it regularly. She said Jewish students have felt physically unsafe on certain university campuses in recent years. “What I’m seeing more are comments that indicate that people in our Canadian society do not see Jews as worthy of the same kinds of compassion and support as anyone else in Canada,” she said.

Amir Epstein of the Tafsik Organization told The Media Line he personally knows dozens of people who have already left Canada because of antisemitism and many more who are preparing to do so. “This is where we’ve come down to in our community, that people are really seriously looking to leave,” he stated.

Epstein said he himself has been falsely accused of being a Mossad agent and has received ongoing death threats. He said the volume of inquiries from older community members about leaving Canada grew so large that Tafsik created a program called Plan B — a Panama trip held in February and March for participants between the ages of 40 and 70. “We’re always getting emails from people saying, ‘Where do we go? What do we do?’ So, people are very seriously looking to leave,” he said.

At Tafsik events attended by 700 to 1,500 people, Epstein said roughly two-thirds of those present typically raise their hands when asked if they are considering leaving Canada. He noted that older community members have been more active in exploring relocation, while Jews under 40 appear less inclined to consider moving. Panama is viewed by many as a practical option because permanent residency there is considered relatively accessible.

Epstein acknowledged that Tulsa is not a realistic option for many families due to the difficulty and expense of immigrating to the United States. He noted that Orthodox Jews may be more likely to consider Israel, while more secular Jews may be put off by the cost of living there or by the language barrier.

Campbell said the feeling of vulnerability has deepened because hate crimes are not being met with a strong enough response. She said she has felt less safe over the past two years and lives with a constant worry about the threat of a lone attacker. “Of course, we feel physically vulnerable, 100%. And some will say, yeah, today may be OK, but there’s this underlying feeling of it’s a matter of time,” she said.

Iraq’s top diplomat and the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council sat down in Baghdad on Tuesday to explore ways to bring Iraq and its Gulf neighbors closer together, with both sides voicing strong support for deeper cooperation under Iraq’s newly established government.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the visit was a reflection of a mutual desire to strengthen the relationship between Iraq and GCC member states, while also working to advance the interests of both Iraqi and Gulf citizens.

Hussein outlined his government’s goal of building balanced relationships with Gulf Arab nations across a range of sectors. He also acknowledged that regional difficulties in recent years had put a strain on those ties, and emphasized how critical it is to keep working toward improvement.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi offered his congratulations to Iraq on forming its new government, expressing confidence that the development could mark the beginning of a fresh chapter in relations between the Gulf bloc and Baghdad.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry reported that Albudaiwi told officials he had been dispatched to Baghdad directly by GCC member states to send a clear message of their dedication to building stronger bonds and expanding joint efforts with Iraq.

Albudaiwi also commended the Iraqi government for referring cases related to attacks on Gulf states to the court system, stating that those found responsible must face prosecution and be held accountable under the law.

After their discussions wrapped up, Hussein and Albudaiwi appeared together at a joint press conference held at the Foreign Ministry, where they addressed further opportunities for cooperation between Iraq and the Gulf states.

The high-level visit underscored the shared desire of both Iraq and the GCC to strengthen political relationships as Iraq’s new leadership seeks to build closer engagement with its neighbors in the Gulf region.

The World Bank has signed off on a seven-year loan worth $1.25 billion for Nigeria, with the goal of speeding up private sector investment, generating employment, and easing the cost of living by reducing obstacles to cross-border trade.

The money will be channeled through the Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration program, known as NAIJA, which is part of the World Bank’s larger Country Partnership Framework covering the years 2026 through 2032.

The program is built around a set of government-backed reforms targeting key sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, trade, and fiscal management.

Among its most ambitious targets, the initiative aims to bring electricity access to 32 million Nigerians. It also seeks to expand internet access to 58 million people, provide support to 9.5 million farmers, and improve healthcare and nutrition services for 40 million residents.

The loan is also intended to make it easier for businesses to operate and for goods to move across borders, with the ultimate aim of growing the private sector and putting more people to work.

A portion of the funds comes with strings attached. States will only qualify for performance-based grants if they meet specific budget transparency requirements, tying some of the money directly to accountability standards.

This loan represents one piece of the World Bank’s long-term strategy with Nigeria, which pairs financial investment with governance improvements and runs through 2032. The approval arrives as Nigerian officials continue pushing forward with economic reforms meant to attract investment and stimulate growth.

Not everyone is on board with the deal. Some members of the public and civil society groups have voiced concern over Nigeria’s expanding external debt load and its ongoing dependence on borrowing from foreign sources.

Those who back the program counter that putting money into electricity, digital infrastructure, farming, and healthcare is meant to raise living standards and set Nigeria up for stronger economic performance over the long haul.

Beyond job creation, the NAIJA program is also designed to help bring down inflation by lowering regional trade barriers and creating a more favorable environment for private investment — all under the umbrella of the seven-year World Bank financing arrangement and the broader 2026-2032 Country Partnership Framework.

Israel finished 2025 with approximately 195,000 dollar millionaires and a rising average personal wealth figure, but a new global report also revealed that median wealth fell during the same period — a sign that the gap between higher- and middle-wealth households is widening.

The 2025 UBS Global Wealth Report, released Tuesday, placed Israel 18th out of 56 countries that together represent more than 92% of all wealth worldwide. Average wealth per Israeli adult climbed to $312,108 by the close of 2025, up from $284,224 the year before. Israel dropped one spot compared to the previous report, landing just behind Ireland and ahead of South Korea in the rankings.

The number of Israeli dollar millionaires grew by 4.7% during 2025, adding more than 8,800 people to that group and bringing the total to around 195,000. That means millionaires now make up 3.2% of Israel’s adult population.

The report highlighted that more than 82% of Israelis’ gross personal wealth is held in financial assets such as stocks, cash, and pension funds — the second-highest proportion among all countries surveyed, trailing only Sweden.

On a global scale, UBS said personal wealth saw its strongest yearly growth since 2017, continuing a three-year upward trend. Close to 1 million new dollar millionaires were created around the world during 2025 — more than 2,600 per day. Switzerland topped the list for average personal wealth globally, with the United States in second place and Luxembourg in third.

Even so, Israel’s median wealth per adult actually declined to $83,843, placing the country 24th globally — a contrast to the rising average figure.

The UBS report noted the disparity directly: “Israel has enjoyed strong growth in average wealth per adult so far this decade, to the tune of over 15% when measured in local currency net of inflation. Median wealth, on the other hand, contracted by more than 12% over the same timeframe of 2020-2025.”

The report also pointed out that during 2025, Tel Aviv stock indexes hit record highs in spite of ongoing war and regional instability, the shekel gained ground against both the dollar and the euro, and technology exits surged 340% to $58.8 billion — even as the country faced escalating war costs and a growing debt load.

Separately, figures from Forbes Israel counted 52 Israeli billionaires, placing the country third in the world for billionaires per capita. Research from the Taub Center also found that Israel continues to grapple with high levels of wealth and income inequality.

A group of more than 100 influential figures from India and Pakistan has come together to urge Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to end the long-running diplomatic standoff between their countries and restore normal relations.

The effort was organized by O.P. Shah, a prominent Indian peace activist who serves as founder-chairman of the Centre for Peace and Progress, a civil society organization dedicated to promoting dialogue and reconciliation between the two nations.

The letter, which has been widely covered by major Indian news outlets, bears the signatures of 117 notable individuals — 61 from India and 56 from Pakistan.

Those who signed the letter are calling for a return to structured, comprehensive diplomatic talks, pointing to the negotiation framework that was in place between 2004 and 2007 as a potential model to follow.

The document lays out a step-by-step plan for reducing hostilities. Among the proposals: reinstating high commissioners in both countries, reopening the Atari-Wagah border crossing along with other key trade and transport routes, lifting restrictions on commercial airspace, and relaxing visa rules to make it easier for families, students, and business travelers to cross between the two countries.

The signatories warned that the ongoing tensions are taking a serious toll — both human and economic — and are dimming the prospects of millions of young people across South Asia. The letter argues that the needs and hopes of nearly two billion people must be placed above political disagreements and longstanding historical disputes.

The initiative has attracted widespread attention given the prominence of those who signed it. Indian signatories include former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, former intelligence chief A.S. Dulat of India’s top spy agency RAW, as well as lawmakers, scholars, and public intellectuals such as Mani Shankar Aiyar, Manoj Jha, and Apoorvanand.

On the Pakistani side, signatories include former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, veteran diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy, and civil society advocates Beena Sarwar and Salima Hashmi.

The letter arrives at a particularly tense moment in relations between the two countries, following an escalation that grew out of a conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors in May 2025.

Supporters of the initiative say it builds on small but encouraging signs of renewed engagement, including recent informal diplomatic contacts in Colombo and public statements from some members of India’s political establishment stressing the value of keeping communication lines open.

While both governments continue to face significant domestic political pressures and deep-rooted security concerns, the letter reflects an ongoing push from civil society voices who believe that dialogue is essential to preventing further conflict and opening the door to greater regional economic cooperation.

As of now, neither New Delhi nor Islamabad has issued an official response to the appeal.

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, took a preliminary step Wednesday toward making Torah study a constitutionally protected principle, advancing a proposed Torah Study Basic Law through its first reading.

The bill, sponsored by Knesset members Moshe Gafni, Yaakov Asher, and Yitzhak Pindrus, passed by a vote of 63 to 53. If it becomes law, the legislation would formally designate Torah study as a “fundamental value” of the state.

Supporters of the measure argue it would place Torah study on equal footing with other core constitutional principles. However, legal experts have raised alarms, warning the law could be used to justify exemptions from mandatory military service — and that in cases of conflict between the rights of Torah students and military personnel, the legislation could give constitutional priority to Torah study.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took part in the floor debate and cast his vote in favor of the bill. Four members of the governing coalition broke ranks and voted against it: Yuli Edelstein, Dan Illouz, Sharren Haskel, and Moshe Solomon.

Opposition figures wasted no time condemning the vote. Together chairman Naftali Bennett issued a sharp rebuke, saying, “Immediately after the new government is formed, we will repeal the Basic Law of Torah Humiliation. The law will disappear, but the mark of shame on the miserable Knesset members who supported it will remain.”

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot was equally critical, stating, “The attempt to turn draft evasion into a Basic Law is a direct blow to our national backbone. At a time when the burden on those who serve is reaching record levels and the price they pay is unbearable, the coalition is choosing to create a bypass route for draft evasion.”

Backers of the legislation framed it differently, saying the bill is meant to restore Torah study to what they view as its rightful place in the Jewish state. Speaking before the full parliament, sponsor Yitzhak Pindrus argued that Torah study stands above military service as the nation’s highest value.

Fellow sponsor Moshe Gafni explained his motivation, saying, “In recent years there has been a degradation in the honor of the Torah. Therefore, under the instruction of the leading Torah sages, I decided to bring this Basic Law to restore the honor of the Torah, which has sustained the Jewish people for thousands of years and distinguishes us from all other nations.”

United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf described the bill’s purpose as recognizing “the Torah of Israel that was given at Mount Sinai,” and argued that Torah students should not be treated “as though he were a thief.”

One of the newest ideas being floated for Gaza’s postwar transition involves the creation of Hamas-free zones — referred to more carefully by planners as “temporary communities” — inside the Israeli-controlled Green Zone. The concept would allow Palestinian civilians to access shelter, services, and protection under a future Palestinian civilian authority.

However, the proposal — designed to offer a practical starting point while diplomatic efforts remain stalled — also highlights the central challenge facing President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace: most of the plan’s institutional framework exists only on paper, while the tools needed to actually carry it out inside Gaza remain blocked, unfinished, or politically disputed.

Representatives of the Board of Peace and related bodies have been holding meetings in Cyprus this week, following a preparatory workshop in Cairo, to advance the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, known as the NCAG. This Palestinian technocratic body is expected to replace Hamas’ rule in the territory. The committee was announced earlier this year to lead reconstruction and humanitarian relief efforts, but it remains stationed outside Gaza and has not yet entered the enclave.

The security side of the plan faces similar uncertainty. The Board of Peace has been working to establish both a Palestinian police force and an International Stabilization Force, referred to as the ISF, but no clear operational timeline has been set. Moroccan officers arrived in Israel on June 18 to join the early-stage ISF headquarters in southern Israel, according to the Board of Peace and reports citing the French global news agency AFP — but that arrival does not constitute an active deployment inside Gaza.

The Board of Peace’s near-term backup plan appears to center on establishing temporary communities within the Green Zone, with a first location reportedly being planned near Rafah, in the portion of Gaza currently held by the Israel Defense Forces. The goal is to create areas where civilians can receive humanitarian aid, housing, and services outside of Hamas-controlled territory. But even this limited approach raises significant questions: whether Palestinians would willingly relocate to areas under Israeli military control, whether the NCAG would lose credibility by operating there, and whether Israel would approve the steps needed for construction and administration.

On the diplomatic front, the message is straightforward: Hamas giving up its weapons is the key to unlocking Phase Two of the Gaza plan. According to a report seen by The Associated Press, the Board of Peace intends to ask the UN Security Council to pressure Hamas to disarm. That report identifies Hamas’ refusal to accept verified disarmament, surrender control, and allow a civilian transition as the primary obstacle to full implementation.

Hamas has pushed back against that framing, accusing the Board’s report of ignoring what the group characterizes as Israeli violations of the ceasefire — including issues related to humanitarian access, troop withdrawals, and restrictions at Gaza’s border crossings.

That dispute has locked the ceasefire framework in a standoff over sequencing. Israel says it will not pull back without full Hamas disarmament. Hamas says it will not discuss disarmament until Israel addresses what it considers failures to implement Phase One and provides international guarantees. The Board of Peace says reconstruction cannot begin where weapons remain. Palestinians and Arab mediators argue that without a clear Israeli withdrawal timeline and a political horizon, disarmament cannot be sold to the Palestinian public.

Dr. Gershon Baskin, co-founder and co-director of the Alliance for Two States and Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, argued that the Board of Peace should not wait for a perfect agreement before taking action. He told The Media Line that the NCAG should stop being “a committee waiting outside Gaza” and instead become a functioning authority operating within the Strip.

Baskin’s proposal centers on the immediate creation of a Palestinian-administered Green Zone. In his view, the NCAG should move into the Israeli-controlled area of Gaza, Palestinian police should be deployed there, the ISF should take up positions along the Yellow Line, and civilians should be given the option to relocate to areas where shelter, food, medical care, schools, and jobs can be provided.

For Baskin, the urgency is as much about institution-building as it is about humanitarian relief. He argued that Palestinian civilian governance must become visible on the ground before the political framework falls apart into another cycle of violence. The Green Zone, in his view, is not meant to be a permanent solution but rather an operational bridge — a way to establish secure Palestinian-administered areas, move civilians into them voluntarily and safely, and gradually reduce the territory controlled by both Hamas and the Israeli military.

The logic is both humanitarian and political: to create a visible alternative to Hamas rule without waiting for Hamas to agree to full disarmament. Baskin argued that the Green Zone should steadily expand while Hamas-controlled space shrinks and Israel’s military presence can be rolled back in stages.

He also emphasized employment as a stabilizing force. Reconstruction work — clearing rubble, fixing water systems, building temporary housing, staffing clinics, and reopening schools — is presented as a broader strategy to weaken Hamas’ hold over Gazan society by giving civilians a tangible alternative.

Katherine Prescott, a senior political advisor at the U.S. Department of State, offered a far more skeptical view of where the plan actually stands. She argued that the problem goes beyond technical delays — it reflects a deeper conflict between institutions that exist on paper and institutions that still cannot function inside Gaza.

Speaking about the NCAG, she told The Media Line: “The committee exists, has a chair, has a mission statement, and has not entered Gaza. Israel blocked its members in January, and there is no current timeline for entry. The PA and Hamas both publicly support it and are both working against it behind the scenes. That is not a technical problem. That is the problem.”

Her assessment of the ISF was equally direct. “There is no force. There is a commander, a coordination center, and outreach to over 70 countries that has produced no firm commitments. The current design confines the ISF to a buffer zone behind the IDF’s yellow line, which means it would operate precisely where Hamas is not,” she said. “That is not stabilization. That is theater with a UN mandate,” she added.

The contradiction is evident on the ground. The ISF is central to the Board of Peace’s design, but at this stage it functions more like a coordination structure than a deployed security force. Morocco’s participation carries symbolic weight, particularly since Arab and Muslim-majority involvement is considered essential for the plan’s regional legitimacy. Yet without deployment inside Gaza, a legal framework, Israeli approval, and clear rules of engagement, the force cannot yet fulfill the role assigned to it.

Prescott also highlighted the unresolved disarmament roadmap put forward by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s director-general and high representative for Gaza. “There is no agreed verification mechanism, no distinction between light and heavy weapons that both parties accept, and no third party with the leverage to break the deadlock. The talks in Cairo this month are real, but the gap is not procedural,” she said.

A previously reported disarmament proposal would require Hamas to surrender weapons in phases over eight months, allow the destruction of tunnels and military infrastructure, and transfer security authority to the NCAG. It would begin with the technocratic committee assuming security and administrative control and end with an Israeli withdrawal after Gaza is verified as weapons-free. However, Reuters reported that Palestinian factions — including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad — criticized the proposal for placing disarmament ahead of reconstruction, Israeli withdrawal, and political guarantees.

Meanwhile, Israeli security concerns appear to be growing. According to an unsourced report from Kan, senior officers in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command warned Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir that Hamas’ military wing is preparing for renewed conflict. The report said Hamas was manufacturing explosive devices and anti-tank missiles, recruiting young fighters, restarting training for its elite Nukhba force, rebuilding underground infrastructure, and attempting to smuggle drones and communications equipment from Sinai.

The same report indicated that these senior officers believe fighting must resume, while the United States opposes a renewed Israeli offensive and prefers to maintain the current status quo while continuing to advance the Board of Peace initiative.

Prescott declined to comment directly on intelligence assessments but said the public record points to the same core dilemma regarding Hamas’ military posture: “Hamas is degraded and still armed enough to veto Phase Two indefinitely. That is the situation,” she noted.

The Gaza situation also intersects with broader regional diplomacy now centered on Washington and Tehran. Since a June 17 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, U.S. diplomatic attention has been heavily consumed by the Iran track — including discussions over sanctions relief, Iranian assets, maritime access, the nuclear file, the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian militia networks.

“Gaza was not formally linked to the Iran war, but it was functionally deprioritized by it. The June 17 memorandum gives Washington breathing room. Whether that translates into serious reengagement on Gaza is a political question, not a diplomatic one, and the answer is not obvious,” Prescott said.

The question of accountability is also becoming more urgent, and the absence of a clear political endpoint remains one of the most sensitive issues in the postwar framework. “The Board and ISF are authorized through December 2027 with no binding political endpoint, no path to statehood, and an enforcement posture that, based on Mladenov’s own leaked correspondence, does not apply equally to both parties. That is a legitimacy problem that compounds over time,” she noted.

“My honest summary: the architecture exists, the institutions do not function, and the central obstacle — Hamas’ weapons — has no agreed solution. Everything else is negotiation over sequencing,” Prescott added.

For now, the Board of Peace continues to move forward. Workshops are being held. The NCAG is being prepared. Moroccan officers have arrived. Temporary communities are being discussed. Palestinian police training is being planned. The Security Council is being asked to reaffirm that Hamas must disarm.

But the gap between planning and execution remains vast. Hamas still holds weapons and local coercive power. Israel still controls much of Gaza and has not agreed to a clear withdrawal timeline. Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have reasons to resist an independent technocratic body that could bypass their influence. The ISF is not yet a deployed force. And Washington is divided between managing Gaza and handling the fallout from the Iran diplomatic track.

The result is a ceasefire framework with institutions, documents, and diplomatic language — but still lacking the political leverage needed to turn those elements into facts on the ground. The concept of Hamas-free camps may become the first real test of whether the Board of Peace can build a functioning alternative inside Gaza. It may also reveal whether the plan can survive without an answer to the question that has blocked every other step: Who, if anyone, can compel Hamas to surrender its weapons — and what will Israel, the Palestinians, and the broader region receive in return?

Dozens of devoted readers lined up outside a prominent Tokyo bookstore in the early morning hours Friday, eager to get their hands on Haruki Murakami’s newest novel the moment it became available at midnight.

The book, titled “The Tale of KAHO,” is notable for being the first full-length novel by the celebrated Japanese author to feature a solitary female lead character, according to Shinchosha Publishing Co.

Murakami shared a brief message on his publisher’s campaign website, offering readers a glimpse into the story. “Kaho, a picture book author, is just an average young woman. But truly bizarre things start happening around her,” he wrote. “I wrote this novel as I put myself in her shoes.”

The author’s comment caught many fans off guard, given that the vast majority of Murakami’s central characters throughout his career have been young or middle-aged men.

Naoyuki Yamano, who was first in line to purchase the new title, expressed his enthusiasm for the shift in storytelling. “I’m excited about finding out how the story evolves around a female character,” he said.

The novel traces its roots to a short story also called “Kaho,” which Murakami first presented at a book reading held two years ago at Waseda University — his own alma mater in Tokyo — alongside Mieko Kawakami, a well-known female author and admirer of his work. That original short story later appeared in the June 2024 issue of the monthly literary magazine Shincho.

The plot centers on 26-year-old Kaho, who goes on a blind date set up by her book editor. During dinner, her date delivers a startling remark: “I’ve never seen one as ugly as you,” despite having dated many women before. Rather than feeling hurt or angry, the curious Kaho becomes determined to understand what he meant — and soon, strange and unexplainable events begin unfolding around her.

Since that initial story, Murakami has written three additional “Kaho” installments for Shincho magazine, with the most recent appearing in the March edition. He has woven all four stories into a 352-page novel organized into four chapters: “Kaho and the Motorcycle Man,” “The Anteater of Musashi-sakai,” “Kaho and the Termite Queen,” and “The Guardian Angel, Elephant Egg and Scarlett Johansson.”

This release arrives three years after Murakami’s previous novel, “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” a story following a male protagonist as he navigates themes of love, loss, and the blurred line between reality and the subconscious.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Thursday that a proposed pipeline designed to move Alberta oil to the Pacific Coast will not disturb the existing ban on oil tankers along northern British Columbia’s coastline. The statement came as his government works to address environmental concerns while also trying to calm growing separatist sentiment in the oil-rich province of Alberta.

Carney said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith would be announcing details about a potential pipeline route later Thursday at a joint news conference held in Calgary.

Expanding pipeline access to the Pacific has become a top priority for Carney’s government, which is looking to move Canadian oil exports beyond reliance on the U.S. market. The push also comes in response to longstanding grievances in Alberta, where many felt the previous federal government stood in the way of the province’s energy industry and stoked separatist feelings.

Alberta is scheduled to hold a public vote this fall on whether to pursue a referendum on separating from Canada. Progress on a pipeline could help reduce some of that separatist pressure.

Not everyone is on board, however. British Columbia and some First Nations communities have voiced opposition to routing a pipeline through northern British Columbia.

Carney was firm on one point: “The tanker ban will remain in place. We will be protecting the northern coast of British Columbia,” he said.

He also announced Thursday that British Columbia would receive compensation for environmental risks in the event a pipeline is constructed through the southern portion of the province.

An earlier agreement between Ottawa and Alberta had included language that could have adjusted the oil tanker ban along parts of the British Columbia coast. But British Columbia Premier David Eby said Thursday he had secured a firm commitment to keep the northern tanker ban intact, preserving the province’s unspoiled northern coastline.

“It ensures that the northern tanker ban remains in place, and it ensures that if a pipeline goes ahead, British Columbians are fairly compensated in the environmental risks,” Eby said.

Carney has set an ambitious goal of doubling Canada’s exports to countries other than the U.S. over the next ten years. He has also argued that a new pipeline could reduce the price gap that currently affects Canadian oil sold into U.S. markets.

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government had also opposed any pipeline that would cross through northern British Columbia and the Great Bear Rainforest. Trudeau did approve one pipeline running from Alberta to British Columbia’s southern coast, but rejected the Northern Gateway project due to pushback from environmental groups and Indigenous communities.

Alberta holds one of the largest proven oil reserves anywhere in the world, and Canada is actively working to gain greater access to markets in Asia.

YEREVAN, Armenia — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Armenia on Thursday, announcing an 18-million euro ($20.5-million) assistance package along with the removal of import duties on the vast majority of Armenian agricultural products. The move is intended to bolster Armenia’s growing relationship with the European Union as the country distances itself from its longtime ally, Russia.

The visit follows a parliamentary election last month in which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party strengthened its grip on power — a vote widely interpreted as a referendum on the country’s geopolitical direction. In the weeks leading up to that election, Moscow imposed a series of trade restrictions on Armenian goods, including bans on imports of flowers, brandy, wine, and fruit.

Von der Leyen did not mince words about Russia’s actions, stating that “Armenia is still facing significant economic pressure from Russia,” and characterizing it as “nothing short of economic coercion.”

“But rest assured: when pressure mounts on our partners, the EU steps up,” she added.

She explained that the 18-million euro payment represents the final portion of a larger 52-million euro ($59.4-million) support commitment the EU made in early June, designed to help Armenia strengthen and diversify its trade relationships.

Additionally, von der Leyen announced that the EU will open its market to nearly 80% of Armenian exports on a tariff-free basis, a step she said would help “re-route products that currently still rely heavily on the Russian market.”

Prime Minister Pashinyan expressed gratitude for the EU’s backing and highlighted the urgency of resolving technical barriers to allow Armenian agricultural products into the EU market, noting that the country has entered its harvest season.

Russia, which maintains a military base on Armenian soil, has cautioned that Yerevan’s westward shift could bring serious political and economic fallout. President Vladimir Putin has drawn comparisons between Armenia’s path and that of Ukraine — remarks observers have characterized as barely disguised threats. Putin has also suggested that Russia’s war against Ukraine stemmed from Ukraine’s own attempt to sign an association agreement with the EU.

Ties between Moscow and Yerevan deteriorated significantly after Azerbaijan reclaimed the Karabakh region, a mountainous area that had been held for decades by ethnic Armenian forces with backing from Armenia — the product of a lengthy conflict between the two neighboring nations. Armenia accused Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region of standing by while Azerbaijan launched its offensive, an allegation Moscow has denied while citing its focus on the war in Ukraine.

In August 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted both Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a signing ceremony aimed at putting an end to their long-running conflict. The agreement included provisions for the creation of a new transit corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan.

Von der Leyen’s trip to Armenia came one day after she visited Azerbaijan, where she unveiled a separate 200-million euro ($228.6-million) Global Gateway investment package. She noted that the EU, working alongside financial partners, hopes to mobilize as much as 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for strategic projects in transportation, energy, and digital infrastructure across the broader South Caucasus region.

A newly released United Nations report concludes that all sides involved in the deteriorating conflict in eastern Congo are breaking the terms of a peace agreement and committing serious abuses, according to a document reviewed by the Associated Press on Thursday.

U.N. experts say the Congolese army, the M23 rebel group, and M23’s Rwandan supporters have all failed to follow through on a peace deal reached in December — an agreement that was initiated by the Trump administration with the goal of ending a conflict that has dragged on for decades.

Among the violations cited, the experts noted that the Congolese army has continued to work alongside a Hutu rebel group known by the acronym FDLR. That group includes fighters who took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and later fled to Congo. The government in Kinshasa had specifically pledged to end that cooperation as part of the December agreement.

Rwanda has repeatedly sent military forces into eastern Congo, claiming it was necessary to neutralize Hutu fighters and protect its own national security. However, both Congo and the U.S. government have accused Rwanda of using those rebel groups as a cover to gain control over the region’s valuable mineral resources.

The report also found that the Rwandan-backed M23 group — which captured the city of Goma and other eastern cities in a rapid offensive earlier last year — has not pulled back as it agreed to do. Instead, M23 has strategically repositioned its forces and continues to pursue its goal of overthrowing the government in Kinshasa.

M23 now controls large portions of territory in eastern Congo and has been identified as the primary perpetrator of conflict-related sexual violence in the region, the report stated.

Rwanda maintains substantial influence over M23, and by late 2025, Rwandan troops inside Congo were “conservatively estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 elements in South Kivu and 6,000 to 8,000 in North Kivu, with no evidence of significant withdrawals thereafter,” the panel of experts reported — a direct violation of the peace agreement.

The United Nations has described the situation in eastern Congo as “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

Just last week, Congo announced it had filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice, accusing its neighbor of bearing legal responsibility for the devastation caused by the ongoing violence.

The U.N. experts also reported that minerals from Rubaya and other mining operations in the Masisi region of eastern Congo are being smuggled into Rwanda by M23, which is building a parallel economy in the areas it controls. That economy is largely dominated by Rwandan-linked companies that export minerals extracted from Congolese soil.

Also last week, the United States imposed sanctions on a gold refinery based in Rwanda, describing it as part of “a network working in coordination” with M23 in eastern Congo. The sanctions against Gasabo Gold Refinery were described as part of broader U.S. and Qatari peace efforts in the region.

European authorities are escalating their efforts against a network of tankers that have been fraudulently flying Cameroon’s flag while secretly hauling Russian oil, with naval forces now boarding vessels at sea and Cameroon removing 39 ships from its official registry in response, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters.

On June 8, the European Union expanded the authority of Operation IRINI, its naval mission operating in the Mediterranean Sea, giving it the power to stop, board, detain, and inspect ships suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.” Russia publicly condemned the expanded mission.

These shadow fleet vessels are typically older ships that lack recognized Western insurance or safety certification. Russia has used them to dodge international sanctions by sailing under the flags of various countries, making it difficult to trace their true ownership, cargo, and routes.

According to two European military sources, three tankers recently boarded and inspected by Operation IRINI — the Nelsa, the Oneiroi, and the Sandhya — were found to be carrying fraudulent Cameroonian registration documents.

Beyond those three, nine additional ships have been seized by French, Belgian, British, and Swedish naval forces since the beginning of 2026, with five of those vessels having flown Cameroonian flags.

Cameroon had already raised alarms in recent months about the misuse of its flag registry by tankers moving Russian oil. In a letter dated June 16 sent to the United Nations shipping agency — a copy of which was obtained by Reuters — Cameroon’s government reported that an official investigation found multiple vessels were illegally operating under its flag, and that two fraudulent websites were being used to assign that flag to ships without authorization. The government said it had removed 39 vessels from its registry as a result.

The central African nation has become one of the largest sources of fraudulent shipping registrations in recent years. The situation became serious enough that the United Arab Emirates banned Cameroon-flagged ships from its ports in 2024 unless they could show top-level safety certification.

This week, Cameroon’s transport ministry issued a statement saying the country is “cooperating with international authorities and organisations to enforce maritime rules, protect the credibility of its naval registry, and fight against irregular registrations.” The ministry also noted that Cameroon cannot be held responsible for the actions of any vessel after it has been removed from the registry.

The most recent seizure involved a tanker called the Deliver, which was detained by the French navy on June 25 after being intercepted near Sicily. The vessel was still flying a Cameroonian flag even though it had already been removed from that country’s registry.

The EU is now preparing another round of sanctions expected in mid-July, with the shadow fleet among the primary targets. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas explained the reasoning last month, saying, “The idea is to change the best practices, what different countries are doing with those ships, because it is really posing a danger, and of course also the idea is to curb Russia from the funding of this war.”

The upcoming sanctions package, which could be formally adopted in July, would add 30 more vessels to the shadow fleet sanctions list and broaden the criteria to include ships involved in refueling sanctioned vessels or offloading their cargo, according to European officials.

Officials have also highlighted the broader dangers these ships pose — including threats to the safety of crew members and to the environment if vessels are poorly maintained or fall apart at sea, as happened with two Russian coastal oil tankers in the Black Sea in late 2024.

KYIV — When a Russian missile tore through a nine-story apartment building in Ukraine’s capital on Thursday, a graphic designer named Max was already on the scene before the air-raid alert had even been lifted — helping search for survivors before clocking in for his regular workday.

Max is one of roughly 700 volunteers serving with the Ukrainian Red Cross emergency rescue operation. He described the emotional toll of responding to such scenes, saying, “Mentally, it’s a lot easier now because years have gone by and we’ve adapted a bit. But of course it’s hard.”

Max, 43, identifiable by his close-cut mohawk and bold black wing tattoos on either side of his neck, joined fellow volunteers on team leader Taras Didenko’s crew as they moved through darkened, dust-covered hallways in search of anyone who might still be alive.

Didenko, 46, serves as a deputy unit commander for the Ukrainian Red Cross. He described how his team must think on their feet during chaotic situations. “We’re always planning,” he said. “We see all kinds of situations and have to make decisions on the spot.”

Thursday’s assault was enormous in scale. Russia launched 496 drones and 74 missiles during the overnight attack, which killed at least 21 people and wounded approximately 90 others. It marked the worst destruction in Kyiv this year and the deadliest attack since at least May.

Dispatched by the State Emergency Service, Ukrainian Red Cross teams typically assess multiple locations during large-scale attacks before focusing on wherever the need is greatest. Max explained their approach: “First we do a general check: who needs help, what kind. We go apartment to apartment, because people might be stuck inside, or unconscious.”

Working alongside firefighters and other emergency responders, the volunteers helped carry injured residents — young and old, men and women alike — through piles of rubble, broken glass, and debris. Meanwhile, uninjured building residents anxiously scanned the faces of those being brought out on stretchers, searching for people they knew.

The Ukrainian Red Cross maintains around two dozen volunteer teams like this one stationed throughout the country. Their members come from a wide range of backgrounds, including IT professionals and kindergarten teachers. When they are not responding to air strikes, these teams can be found at car accident scenes or providing support at community events like music festivals.

On Thursday alone, the teams treated 35 people across Kyiv, according to a spokesperson.

Another volunteer, a 21-year-old project manager named Anet, was on the scene wearing a bright red armored vest and a helmet-mounted camera. She noted that every strike site presents its own set of challenges. “Since there’s very serious damage here to a residential building, there’s a lot of work, and it’s difficult,” she said.

As Russian air attacks continue to grow in intensity, volunteer rescue teams like Didenko’s have become increasingly skilled at responding to mass-casualty events — all while many of them hold down regular jobs on the side.

Canada is working toward a major announcement at next week’s NATO summit in Turkey, where it hopes to reveal around 10 founding nations for a newly proposed global defence financing institution, according to the country’s lead negotiator.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been championing the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, known as the DSRB, as a cornerstone of his broader push to unite what he describes as “middle powers” in response to what he views as the breakdown of the traditional U.S.-led international order.

“We gave ourselves the NATO summit as a deadline … What we are aiming to announce is the list of founding members,” said Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s chief negotiator for the multilateral initiative and CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, in a recent interview.

The proposed bank would support the defense capabilities of allied nations by securing up to £100 billion — roughly $133 billion — in affordable financing.

Hudon indicated that the initial group of founding members would likely consist of Canada and several European nations, though she declined to identify them specifically. She also noted that the announcement was not a certainty, as final talks with potential allies — including discussions about how much capital each country would contribute — were still ongoing. Despite that uncertainty, she said the effort had gained significant momentum.

“My prime minister said we should not aim for perfection before launching this initiative, that we should rally the countries that are ready to be called founding members, and then the membership will stay open,” Hudon said.

The bank’s long-term viability still faces questions, particularly regarding whether it can attract the key national backers needed to achieve a triple-A credit rating.

Hudon noted that the DSRB has held encouraging discussions with South Korea, estimating roughly a 50-50 chance that the country could eventually join — though possibly at a later stage. She added that no other G7 nations appear close to signing on at this time. South Korea’s Finance Ministry has previously confirmed to Reuters that it was evaluating the proposal.

Canada’s Finance Ministry had not responded to a request for comment at the time of reporting.

CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela — Eight days after a series of devastating earthquakes tore through Venezuela, rescue teams held onto a sliver of hope Thursday as smoke from burning wreckage and the odor of decomposing remains hung over the ruins of the northern La Guaira region.

That hope turned into a moment of celebration when rescuers managed to pull a 43-year-old man alive from the debris. Hernán Alberto Gil Flores had been buried beneath the remains of a collapsed shopping mall for nearly eight days, surviving in an air pocket while rescue workers passed him water and food through the rubble.

Teams from across the Americas worked approximately 100 hours to free him. As he was carried out on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, crowds gathered nearby erupted in cheers — a brief but powerful moment of relief amid the widespread devastation.

For thousands of others, there was no such outcome.

As of Wednesday, Venezuela’s government reported at least 2,295 people had been killed and more than 11,000 injured. Countless others remain missing, and many survivors are sleeping in overcrowded shelters or out in the open as family members continue searching through the wreckage. Medical workers have raised alarms that the crisis could spiral further, with untreated injuries and the spread of infectious diseases threatening an already fragile healthcare system.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has faced sharp criticism from Venezuelans who say the government’s response has been woefully inadequate. Civilian volunteers and international rescue teams have largely taken the lead, overshadowing the official government effort.

The criticism comes at a particularly sensitive time — just one day before the expiration of Rodríguez’s 180-day mandate as acting leader. She had served as deputy to former President Nicolás Maduro before he was removed by the United States in January, at which point she assumed the interim leadership role with the backing of the Trump administration.

Venezuelan officials have provided little transparency about what will happen once that deadline passes Thursday. Under the country’s constitution, a vice president can fill in temporarily for up to 90 days, with the national assembly able to extend that term by an additional 90 days. The National Assembly, which is controlled by Rodríguez’s party, also has the authority to call a snap election if it formally declares the position permanently vacant.

The United States pushed back against critics on Wednesday, reaffirming its support for Rodríguez’s government and noting that roughly 900 American military personnel are currently on the ground assisting with relief and rescue efforts.

John M. Barrett, the U.S. chargé d’affaires to Venezuela, rejected claims that Rodríguez was using the disaster response for political gain. Speaking on a call with reporters, Barrett said the U.S. effort “does require a high level of coordination with local authorities to be successful.”

“And what I can say with confidence is that the local authorities have fully complied with our requests and have accelerated this massive humanitarian response,” Barrett said.

Gen. Francis Donovan, the head of U.S. Southern Command, also weighed in, saying that “decades of poor investment in the people of Venezuela” had “made this even more challenging for the current government.” He added, “It is a big problem for any leader to deal with a challenge of this magnitude.”

A Canadian court has ordered a near-total blackout on media coverage surrounding an alleged plot by an anti-government militia to seize land near Quebec City, and the move is drawing sharp criticism from press-freedom advocates and legal experts who say citizens deserve to know about threats to their safety.

The Quebec Superior Court issued the publication ban in February, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters. The order came just days after a lower court had released more than a thousand pages of police investigation records related to four men — including two active-duty soldiers — who were arrested last summer. Three of the men face accusations of taking “concrete actions to facilitate terrorist activity,” while the fourth faces weapons charges.

Legal experts say publication bans are sometimes used to shield sensitive investigative details or protect vulnerable victims, but one expert described this particular ban as unusually sweeping.

“Rights, including freedom of the press, are not absolute. But restrictions need to be reasonable,” said Wayne MacKay, emeritus professor of law at Dalhousie University. “The broader the ban and the more sweeping it is, the harder it is to justify.”

The judge’s order offered no explanation for the decision, and a spokeswoman for the Quebec Superior Court said the court and its judges are not permitted to comment on rulings.

Reuters was unable to establish why the ban was put in place. The prosecution and two of the four defense attorneys involved in the cases told Reuters they had not sought to restrict public access to information about the proceedings.

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the court’s refusal to explain its reasoning makes it nearly impossible to evaluate whether the ban is appropriate or legally defensible.

“The problem in this case,” he said, “is that we can’t assess whether this ban is legitimate or not without knowing why it was imposed.”

Attorney Maxime Chevalier, who represents defendant Marc-Aurèle Chabot, said the court issued the ban “of its own volition.” Jean-Marc Fradette, the lawyer for defendant Matthew Forbes, said his team not only never requested the ban but had actually been pushing for more court documents to be made available without redactions. The other two defense attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

Reuters has joined a coalition of media organizations challenging the publication ban at Quebec’s second-highest court. The news organization declined to make further comment. The coalition’s attorney, Marc-André Nadon, also declined to comment. A hearing on the coalition’s request to lift the ban is scheduled for September 23 at the Quebec Superior Court.

Peter Jacobsen, a lawyer with expertise in media, defamation, and constitutional law, warned that the ban puts public safety at risk by keeping citizens uninformed about a far-right militia group facing criminal charges.

“Keeping that information secret means Canadians won’t have a full understanding of how the far right is operating in the country,” he said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced last July that they had arrested and charged three men — Chabot, Simon Angers-Audet, and Raphaël Lagacé — with terrorism-related offenses connected to an alleged plan to take over land near Quebec City for militia purposes. Authorities alleged the group had stockpiled weapons and “took part in military-style training, as well as shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises.” Forbes was separately charged with weapons offenses.

Police said searches carried out in January 2024 turned up a massive arsenal: 16 explosive devices, 83 firearms, roughly 11,000 rounds of ammunition, nearly 130 magazines, four pairs of night-vision goggles, and various military equipment.

Both Chabot and Forbes are members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Chabot is believed to be the first active-duty Canadian military member ever charged with terrorism offenses under the country’s criminal code.

Earlier police press releases and news coverage published before the publication ban took effect remain accessible online. After the charges were announced in July 2025, several Canadian news outlets filed for access to thousands of pages of police documents, which a lower Quebec City court released last August to those who requested them.

Following the release of a second batch of documents earlier this year, Quebec Superior Court Judge François Huot issued an order on February 2 — effective immediately — “prohibiting the media or anyone else from publishing in any form whatsoever, information regarding the facts of this case, regardless of whether or not such information has already been disclosed.”

TIRANA, Albania — Albanian law enforcement officers and demonstrators clashed Thursday when an anti-government protest in the nation’s capital descended into violence, with roots in opposition to a luxury coastal development connected to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Officers deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and a water cannon against demonstrators who were throwing rocks, eggs, and other items at police. Officials reported that 12 officers sustained injuries and 18 protesters were taken into custody.

Thursday’s unrest is part of a series of daily demonstrations that have been ongoing for more than a month. The movement, known as the “flamingo revolution,” began as opposition to a planned upscale resort development along the country’s Adriatic coast that has been linked to Kushner.

Although the protests originated over environmental concerns surrounding the proposed development, they have since expanded into a broader political movement directed against the government and Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

In recent weeks, thousands of demonstrators have filled the streets, blowing whistles and carrying cardboard flamingo cutouts — a nod to the protected migratory bird species whose coastal habitats could be threatened by the proposed resort near Narta Lagoon.

The Albanian government has argued the development would be a game-changer for the formerly communist country as it pursues entry into the European Union and works to attract high-end tourism. However, the project — which would span an abandoned island and a nearby section of shoreline — has faced strong pushback from environmental advocates and critics of Rama’s administration.

Several hundred protesters gathered outside the Albanian parliament on Thursday, calling for the prime minister’s resignation and chanting “Rama has to go to jail.” Some demonstrators hurled rocks, eggs, and plastic bottles at officers, and used a piece of metal barrier to shatter the windows of a police vehicle.

One protester, Agustela Thoma, explained the frustration driving the crowd: “The protesters want their voice to be heard inside (the parliament), as the prime minister for so many days has not heard them and has ignored them. But enough is enough.”

Interior Minister Besfort Lamallari condemned what he described as “the acts of vandalism and criminal violence” directed at police officers. “Police officers are public servants, citizens of the Republic, and family members just like everyone else. They serve the law, public order, and the safety of every citizen, without distinction. An attack against them is an attack against the state,” the minister stated.

A Moscow car dealership is struggling to keep pace with a sudden surge in demand for electric vehicles, as Russian drivers look for ways to avoid a growing fuel crisis marked by long lines and rapidly rising prices.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure have tightened gasoline and diesel supplies in recent weeks, leading to fuel restrictions across most of the country. Reuters calculations show that retail gasoline prices in some parts of Russia have climbed to among the highest levels found anywhere in Europe.

While Russia’s enormous geography, extreme weather, and sparse network of charging stations have historically slowed EV adoption, the ongoing fuel difficulties are pushing more drivers to consider making the switch.

EN Cars, a dealership specializing in Chinese vehicle brands, has seen its daily EV sales jump from two or three per month to two or three per day in just a matter of weeks. Founder Yevgeniy Zabelin shared those figures with Reuters on Wednesday.

“Since the fuel situation became complicated, demand has grown many times over,” Zabelin said, noting that buyers are showing interest in both affordable and high-end models.

Inside the showroom, potential buyers were browsing electric SUVs produced by Chinese automaker Geely.

The trend was already building before the latest crisis. Fuel prices rose more than 12% year-over-year between January and May, and EV interest was already climbing. According to analytical agency Autostat and Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, about 24,600 new plug-in hybrids were sold in the first five months of the year — a 125% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales of fully electric vehicles rose 19% to 4,460 units.

The pace picked up even more in June as fuel shortages deepened. Autostat chief Sergei Tselikov reported that 1,754 new plug-in hybrids were registered in a single week last week — nearly a third more than the week before and roughly 50% above the average weekly rate seen so far this year.

The country’s charging infrastructure is also expanding. According to digital map service 2GIS, the number of charging stations in Russia grew by 20% in the year leading up to July 2026.

One dealership customer named Vasiliy said he was glad he had already purchased both a hybrid and a fully electric vehicle. “Especially in the current situation, I haven’t had any problems at all,” he said with a laugh, though he was skeptical that the broader wave of interest would hold for long.

“I live in a private house in the countryside. I have installed my own charging station and charge at home. In Moscow it is a real problem, to charge properly,” he added.

Despite the recent growth, EVs and plug-in hybrids combined made up just 4.3% of total car sales in Russia last year, according to Autostat.

PARIS — French lawmakers from the Green party filed a no-confidence motion on Thursday targeting the government’s response to a deadly heatwave that has gripped the country since late June, even as France prepares for a possible third round of extreme heat next week.

The motion has the backing of 32 Green party lawmakers, 25 hard-left France Unbowed lawmakers, and one Socialist lawmaker. A Green party spokesperson at the National Assembly told Reuters the motion is expected to come up for debate on July 6.

Despite the political pressure, the effort to bring down Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s minority government is not expected to succeed. The National Rally party has already announced it will not support the motion, and the Socialists have declined to back any of the no-confidence motions brought against Lecornu since he took office last year.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon pushed back on the move even before the motion was formally filed. “There is a government managing the crisis and there are political forces fueling the crisis by introducing the motion,” she said on Wednesday.

While temperatures have begun to ease from their record peaks, much of France is still seeing readings around 30 degrees Celsius — about 86 degrees Fahrenheit — and national weather agency Meteo France has warned that heat will build again over the weekend.

France’s public health agency reported on Sunday that at least 1,000 excess deaths have been linked to the heatwave that has swept across Europe since June 20, cautioning that the actual toll is likely even higher.

During a session at the National Assembly on Tuesday, Green party leader Cyriele Chatelain argued that the government bears some responsibility for the deaths that occurred during the heat emergency.

Some Green lawmakers have gone further, suggesting the death toll could be as high as 10,000. Prime Minister Lecornu sharply rejected that figure, calling it “scandalous” and “undignified.”

DAMASCUS, Syria — A deadly explosion rocked a cafe in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday, leaving at least four people dead, according to Syria’s Interior Ministry.

A Health Ministry official, Dr. Ahmad al-Bakour, spoke to the state-run SANA news agency and confirmed that ten additional people suffered injuries in the blast, which took place near the main courthouse complex in the city.

As of Thursday, no group had stepped forward to take credit for the attack. Security personnel quickly descended on the scene, surrounding the cafe and blocking off the surrounding area while investigators work to determine what happened.

Video footage that spread across social media platforms showed multiple injured individuals on the ground, with law enforcement officers visible nearby.

Syria’s current leadership came to power following a rapid insurgency in December 2024 that ended the Assad dynasty’s long rule. Since taking control, the new government has moved aggressively against militants connected to the extremist Islamic State group, aiming to prevent attacks in and around Damascus.

Reporting from Tallinn, Estonia — A court in Belarus has found journalist Kiryl Pazniak guilty and handed him a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, the latest move in an ongoing campaign against freedom of the press in that country, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, which announced the verdict Thursday.

Pazniak, 49, was well known for hosting a widely followed political program on YouTube. He was convicted on charges of discrediting Belarus and helping to form an extremist organization — charges that human rights observers say are routinely used by Belarusian authorities to silence critics. In addition to the prison term, Pazniak was ordered to pay a fine amounting to approximately $8,500.

He was taken into custody in September 2025. His former wife, Elena, has said that Pazniak became gravely ill while incarcerated, contracting both pneumonia and COVID-19, and that he was transferred to a prison hospital in serious condition. Human rights defenders have classified him as a political prisoner.

Belarus is governed by authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the nation of 9.5 million people with an iron grip for more than three decades. Western countries have repeatedly imposed sanctions on Belarus — both because of its human rights abuses and because Lukashenko allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Lukashenko’s hold on power was tested following a disputed 2020 presidential election, when hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to protest what they believed was a rigged vote. Authorities responded with a sweeping crackdown, detaining tens of thousands of people — many of whom were beaten by police. Key opposition leaders either fled the country or were thrown in prison.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Lukashenko has freed hundreds of political prisoners under American-brokered agreements that resulted in the easing of some U.S. sanctions, as part of the isolated leader’s push to rebuild relationships with Western nations.

Despite those releases, human rights organizations say the Belarusian government has not stopped cracking down on dissent. According to the Viasna human rights center, Belarus still holds 863 political prisoners.

Andrei Bastunets, who leads the Belarusian Association of Journalists, condemned the conviction in strong terms. “Pazniak nearly died behind bars, but was convicted and is forced to continue suffering simply for fulfilling his professional duty,” he said. “Repressions against journalists in Belarus are not abating, and the situation with freedom of speech remains the worst in Europe.”

The Belarusian Association of Journalists says a total of 21 journalists are currently imprisoned in Belarus.

Separately, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported this week that six Belarusian media organizations operating in exile have been repeatedly hit with DDoS attacks — coordinated efforts to flood their websites with traffic and knock them offline.

“While it can be difficult to pinpoint those responsible for DDoS attacks, editors and journalists at the outlets targeted in the recent wave told CPJ they believed Belarusian authorities might have sought to squash reporting on particular political topics, including events linked to Belarus’ exiled opposition,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement published online.

CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela — A 43-year-old security guard was brought out alive from the rubble of a collapsed basement early Thursday morning, bringing an end to an exhausting multi-day rescue effort that captured the world’s attention following the destruction caused by two powerful earthquakes that hit Venezuela eight days ago.

Hernán Alberto Gil Flores had been trapped beneath the debris of the Galerías Playa Grande shopping center in the coastal community of La Guaira since June 24. Rescue teams first made contact with him over the weekend before successfully extracting him Thursday.

As rescuers carried Gil Flores out on a stretcher draped in an orange tarp, crowds cheered and waved flags from countries around the world. He was loaded into a Red Cross ambulance while members of the Costa Rican Red Cross team, dressed in red uniforms, embraced one another in tearful relief.

Gil Flores had been working the night shift at the shopping complex when the first earthquake hit. The concrete structure around him crumbled, but the small security cabin where he was stationed remained intact, protecting him from the falling debris and preserving a pocket of breathable air.

Costa Rican Red Cross rescuer Minyar Collado recalled a striking moment after making contact with the survivor. “When we found him, he asked us not to tell his wife that he was alive, just in case he wouldn’t make it,” Collado told the Associated Press.

The Costa Rican Red Cross team was the first to detect signs of life and establish communication with Gil Flores on Sunday.

His wife, Gusbimar González, described the anguish of the days before rescuers reached him. She told the AP that once she learned he had survived, “I saw a ray of light in the darkness.” The couple shares two children, aged 8 and 10.

The rescue operation was led by an urban search and rescue unit of Chilean firefighters, who worked continuously alongside specialized teams from the United States, Portugal, Mexico, and other nations.

“We (were) never going to leave him here,” Collado said prior to the successful extraction.

Rescue crews faced severe challenges throughout the operation, including unstable structural conditions, heavy rainfall, and ongoing aftershocks. They drilled a narrow shaft to reach Gil Flores, using a telescopic camera to stay in visual contact and passing water and liquid nutrients through the opening to keep him alive during the final three days of the extraction process.

Chilean firefighter María Paz Campos guided Gil Flores through the entire ordeal, helping him stay calm during the most difficult hours of Thursday’s rescue. In video footage released by the Chilean firefighters before the extraction, Gil Flores is seen drawing — apparently to pass the time — while Campos gently instructs him to face the camera and put on protective goggles.

“I need that you keep the goggles on, for the small particles that are falling, to avoid them getting into your eye,” Campos told him.

The shopping center collapsed after two back-to-back earthquakes struck on June 24, registering magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5. The shallow tremors caused widespread destruction across northern Venezuela, damaging or destroying tens of thousands of buildings, killing more than 2,200 people, injuring over 11,000 others, and leaving La Guaira state as the most severely affected area in the country.

More than 17 million people living across nine conflict-torn states in northern Nigeria are now struggling with severe hunger, the United Nations food agency warned on Thursday, saying the situation has deteriorated to its worst point in nearly ten years.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the most recent food security analysis revealed that the number of people experiencing crisis-level, emergency-level, or catastrophic hunger has climbed by nearly two million compared to earlier projections.

The alarming figures highlight the growing humanitarian toll in Africa’s most populous nation, where Islamist insurgents operating in the northeast and armed criminal groups in parts of the north have uprooted entire communities, prevented farmers from working their land, and blocked humanitarian organizations from delivering aid.

The situation is being made worse by the timing — the current lean season is a period when families typically run out of food stores before the next harvest comes in.

WFP identified Borno state, the center of a long-standing Islamist insurgency, as one of the hardest-hit areas, with more than 3 million residents facing acute food insecurity. Of those, more than 750,000 are enduring severe hunger conditions.

WFP regional director for West and Central Africa Kinday Samba stressed the broader dangers of the food crisis, saying: “When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase.” Samba also noted that violence is expanding into new areas, pushing more people off their farmland.

The agency disclosed that it is currently able to assist fewer than half of the 1.3 million people it helped last year in three northeastern states, where 6.2 million residents are now food insecure.

To sustain food assistance, nutrition programs, and logistics operations across northern Nigeria over the next six months, WFP said it requires $89 million in funding.

MOSCOW — Russian authorities have detained a member of the liberal Yabloko party, which stands in opposition to the war in Ukraine, on suspicion of making donations to an organization that has been outlawed in the country, the party announced in a statement.

The detained member, Elena Perepelitsa, 60, was taken into custody just eight days after the party’s deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, was found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to seven years behind bars.

The arrests are unfolding as Russia prepares to hold elections for the State Duma — the lower chamber of its parliament — in September. The conflict in Ukraine is now in its fifth year, and drone attacks launched by Ukrainian forces have been increasingly affecting daily life within Russian borders.

Yabloko was once considered a major liberal political force during the post-Soviet era, but today holds only a small number of seats in regional legislatures and has no representation at the national level. While the party is unlikely to secure Duma seats in the upcoming vote given Russia’s tightly controlled political environment, its participation in the election provides a rare public platform for anti-war positions that Russian authorities have been working to suppress.

In a separate matter, the Russian edition of Forbes magazine reported the death of journalist Sergei Mingazov, 57, who had been involved in a lengthy legal battle over charges of spreading false information about the war in Ukraine. Forbes reported that Mingazov died of cancer.

BRUSSELS — Belgium is preparing to make a major investment in its air defense capabilities, with plans to acquire 10 NASAMS surface-to-air missile launchers from Kongsberg and 20 Skyranger short-range air defense systems from Rheinmetall, according to a Belgian official who spoke with Reuters on Thursday.

The combined price tag for both purchases comes to 3.1 billion euros, though the official did not provide a breakdown of how the costs are divided between the two systems.

Before the deal can move forward, it must receive approval from Belgium’s council of ministers, which is expected to take place this week. If approved, an official announcement could be made at an upcoming NATO summit in Ankara next week.

To speed up the procurement process, Belgium intends to use existing Dutch framework contracts for both purchases, the official noted.

MADRID — Spanish government officials announced Thursday that 609,737 undocumented migrants who applied for legal status through the country’s recent amnesty program have been issued temporary work permits, allowing them to enter the formal workforce while their applications are being processed.

The program, which ran from April 16 through June 30, offers a one-year renewable residence permit to undocumented migrants who can show they lived in Spain for at least five months before the close of 2025 and have no criminal history.

Officials from the Secretary of State for Migration and the Secretary of State for Social Security — Pilar Cancela and Borja Suárez, respectively — shared additional details about the program’s results on Thursday.

The total number of applications came in at more than 1.17 million, which is more than double the government’s original projection of 500,000. The majority of those applications came from migrants with roots in Latin American countries.

Of the roughly 610,000 people who have received temporary work authorization so far, approximately 160,000 had already secured jobs in the formal economy as of June 30. Additionally, 11,000 applicants have been fully approved and issued their one-year residence permits.

The Spanish government is also working alongside businesses in the construction, tourism, transportation, and caregiving industries to connect migrants with available job opportunities.

Demographic data released by officials shows that around 81% of the undocumented migrants who applied are under the age of 45, and 57% of all applicants are male.

BERLIN — Germany is working on landmark legislation that would dramatically expand what its intelligence agencies are allowed to do, giving them the ability to hack into foreign systems, spread disinformation, and disrupt hostile operations, according to a draft law reviewed by Reuters.

For decades, German spy agencies have operated under some of the tightest restrictions in the world. In the aftermath of World War Two, the country’s lawmakers deliberately prevented any single security body from accumulating too much power. As a result, the agencies have largely been confined to observing and reporting on threats rather than actively countering them.

The proposed legislation is being driven by what the German government describes as a growing threat environment, particularly from Russia. Officials want their services to be able to do more than simply watch — they want them to be able to act.

The draft law would rewrite the legal foundations governing both the domestic security agency and the foreign intelligence service, establishing a unified framework for covert activities, with a particular focus on operations carried out in cyberspace.

Under the interior ministry’s proposal, threats would be sorted into categories that would determine what level of response is permitted — ranging from basic surveillance all the way up to what the draft describes as “particularly serious” monitoring measures.

Most significantly, the agencies would gain the ability — for the first time — to interfere with the technical infrastructure of those attacking Germany, and to deliberately plant false information to mislead hostile actors.

In the digital realm, and under strict conditions, agents could break into the computer systems of adversaries, copy or erase data, and neutralize tools being used in foreign state-sponsored campaigns — including during large-scale cyber attacks.

The draft also addresses how government spyware may be used for online searches and for intercepting communications at the source. Companies operating in telecommunications, digital platforms, transportation, and financial services would be subject to secret, legally binding orders to hand over information. Failure to comply could result in fines reaching up to €1 million, and firms could face on-site inspections.

The legislation also spells out clearer rules around the use of confidential informants, including provisions that could, in the most serious threat scenarios, allow individuals as young as 16 years old to assist in investigations.

To ensure accountability, the draft proposes the creation of a new independent oversight body called the Independent Control Council. This single watchdog would replace the current patchwork of oversight agencies, combining authority over wiretap approvals and data protection. It would be required to pre-approve the most invasive intelligence activities, including extended undercover operations and surveillance conducted inside private homes.

DUBAI — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced Thursday that they had killed five members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, known as the PDKI, a banned organization, in the country’s northwestern region, according to state media reports.

The Guards stated that the group was caught in an ambush after crossing into Iranian territory through mountainous border areas near the city of Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan province. Officials did not provide a specific date for when the operation occurred.

The Norway-based Kurdish rights organization Hengaw reported that the confrontation took place Wednesday evening.

The PDKI has engaged in on-and-off armed conflict with Iran’s Islamic Republic for decades, and Tehran has long considered Kurdish armed factions to be separatist threats to the country’s territorial integrity.

During a recent period of conflict with Tehran, both U.S. and Israeli hopes that Kurdish fighters might serve a ground combat role against Iran quickly fell apart. Mixed signals from Washington and Israel, combined with Iranian military strikes and threats against Kurdish positions in Iraq, discouraged those groups from entering the fighting.

A comparable incident near Piranshahr had already been reported by Iranian state media on Tuesday, when the Revolutionary Guards claimed to have killed six members of what they called an “opposition and separatist group.”

Also on Tuesday, state media reported that two Revolutionary Guards members were killed and two others wounded during a shooting in Kermanshah province in western Iran, which occurred Monday evening. Hengaw reported that a newly formed Kurdish armed group claimed responsibility for that attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for the Guards’ role in crushing a protest movement that took place between 2022 and 2023.

The head of the Palestinian political movement known as New Path, or Masar Jadid, says that upcoming Palestinian legislative elections could open the door to a major shift in leadership. Samer Sinijlawi announced that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to declare later this month that the elections will take place on November 28. Sinijlawi called the anticipated vote a chance for new political voices to rise “after years of political stagnation.”

According to Sinijlawi, the expected announcement comes after sustained pressure from those who have been pushing for greater Palestinian democratic participation. If held, the vote would be the first Palestinian legislative election in more than two decades.

In mid-June, President Abbas issued an official decree calling for presidential elections in early 2027 and legislative elections later this year, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. The decree did not indicate whether Abbas himself would seek the presidency again.

Abbas, who is 90 years old, last won a Palestinian presidential election in 2005. That victory came with a four-year mandate, which would have ended in 2009. His term was subsequently extended, and no presidential election has been held since. Abbas has governed through presidential decrees, a practice that has drawn criticism both within Palestinian territories and internationally.

Israelis are set to hold their own government elections no later than October 20, with Palestinian legislative elections anticipated shortly after.

“For the first time in more than two decades, there is a genuine opportunity for a new Palestinian leadership to emerge through the ballot box,” Sinijlawi said.

He projected that the established Fatah party would capture roughly 20% of the vote, with Islamist parties earning a comparable share. He suggested the remaining votes would likely be split among two or three newer parties, including New Path, which he characterized as moderate, democratic, and reform-focused alternatives to the current political establishment.

At the same time, Sinijlawi pointed out that significant hurdles still stand in the way of a truly level playing field. He noted that the Palestinian Authority has yet to pass a Political Parties Law that would ensure equal conditions for all competing political movements. He also accused Palestinian security forces of interfering with the activities of newer political groups.

“In recent days, several leaders of New Path in the West Bank were summoned for questioning by the Palestinian General Intelligence Service in what we view as attempts to intimidate and harass our movement,” he said.

Sinijlawi urged the international community to pay close attention to the situation and to stand behind what he described as the Palestinian people’s right to elections that are free, fair, and genuinely competitive.

“A new Palestinian leadership with democratic legitimacy would serve the interests of both Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.

Sinijlawi wrapped up his remarks by stressing that the outcome of these elections could shape the entire future course of Palestinian politics.

“Change is now within reach. We stand before two clear alternatives: either elections that open the door to a new era of moderation, partnership, and peace, or the continuation of the current reality, which will almost certainly produce another generation of wars and conflict.”

German federal prosecutors have formally charged a former Ukrainian military officer as a co-perpetrator of a war crime in connection with the 2022 explosions that struck the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines. The charges allege he was acting on behalf of Ukrainian government entities.

Prosecutors announced Thursday that charges had been filed against the man, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, in a regional court in Hamburg. He faces accusations of participating in a war crime by attacking civilian infrastructure, causing an explosion, destroying critical infrastructure, and disrupting public services.

Officials in Kyiv said Thursday they lacked sufficient information about the case to respond in detail to the German prosecutors’ allegations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted on Wednesday that he had not yet received the full details of the indictment, which had been formally served that same day. The complete list of charges was made public on Thursday.

“The relevant authorities of our countries will get in touch, and when we receive more details, we will probably be able to respond. For now, it is too early to speak,” Zelenskiy said.

According to prosecutors, the goal of the attack was to permanently cut off gas deliveries through the pipelines and deny Russia the natural gas revenue it was using to fund its military campaign.

Both Russia and Western nations have characterized the September 2022 blasts as deliberate sabotage. The explosions came after Russia had launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. The blasts caused damage to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline — a key conduit for Russian gas flowing into Europe — and also struck the Nord Stream 2 branch, which had not yet begun operating.

At the time of the alleged attack, Russia had already suspended gas deliveries through Nord Stream 1, citing Western sanctions and technical problems. Europe, however, accused Moscow of using energy as a weapon.

The German indictment states that Serhii K. was a Ukrainian army officer in 2022 who, working with other military personnel and acting on behalf of Ukrainian state bodies, helped devise a plan to destroy both pipelines.

Prosecutors allege that Serhii K. led a team that included professional divers, a boat captain, and an explosives specialist. The group entered Germany using forged Ukrainian passports in September 2022 and boarded a yacht rented with falsified identification. They then transported large amounts of military-grade explosives through international waters to a site near the Danish island of Bornholm, where they attached the explosives to the pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor and set timed detonators.

Serhii K. was arrested in Italy in August and transferred to Germany in November. He has denied any involvement in the blasts. His German legal team was not immediately reachable for comment Thursday, but his Italian attorney said he welcomed the indictment.

“We do not fear the indictment — we demand that the facts be established, and in public,” said lawyer Nicola Canestrini in a written statement.

Under German law, a conviction for directing an attack on civilian objects carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison, or one year in less serious circumstances.

German courts have claimed jurisdiction in the case because the damaged pipelines terminate at Lubmin, located in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and their destruction was deemed a threat to Germany’s energy security and internal safety.

German federal prosecutors took a major step Thursday, filing formal charges against a former Ukrainian army officer accused of carrying out the underwater blasts that severely damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany nearly four years ago.

Due to local privacy regulations, the suspect has been identified only as Serhii K. He faces a serious list of charges, including deliberately causing an explosion, destruction of property, disruption of public services, and serving as an “accomplice to war crimes” by targeting civilian infrastructure, according to a statement from prosecutors.

The underwater explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, destroying sections of the pipelines that were constructed to transport Russian natural gas beneath the Baltic Sea to Germany.

The blasts intensified already-high tensions surrounding Russia’s war against Ukraine, coming at a time when European nations were working to reduce their reliance on Russian energy following the Kremlin’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to prosecutors, the goal of the attack was to permanently cut off the flow of gas through the pipelines and block Russia from using natural gas revenues to fund its military campaign.

Serhii K. was taken into custody last August after authorities raided a bungalow in an Italian village where he had been staying with his family. Police reported he gave himself up without a struggle. He was subsequently extradited to Germany in November.

Investigators say Serhii K. and others allegedly departed from the German port city of Rostock aboard a yacht that had been rented from a German company using falsified identification documents and with assistance from intermediaries.

The explosions tore through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which had served as Russia’s primary route for delivering natural gas to Germany until Moscow halted those deliveries in August 2022. The blasts also caused damage to Nord Stream 2, a pipeline that never became operational after Germany put its certification on hold shortly before Russia launched its invasion.

Russia has repeatedly blamed the United States for orchestrating the explosions, an accusation that Washington has firmly rejected. Both pipelines had long drawn criticism from the U.S. and several of its allies, who argued they made Europe dangerously dependent on Russian energy supplies.

A major Russian assault on Ukraine’s capital city overnight into Thursday left many people dead and dozens more injured, as thunderous explosions rocked Kyiv for hours in the darkness.

The large-scale attack sent shockwaves through the city, with residents enduring a prolonged barrage that caused widespread destruction. Associated Press photo editors have put together a gallery of images documenting the scene left behind in the wake of the overnight bombardment.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his coalition government partners rolled out an ambitious 34-point reform plan Thursday, hoping to breathe new life into an economy that has been slow to grow.

The wide-ranging package covers income tax relief for low- and middle-income households, a restructuring of the country’s strained pension system, stricter requirements around employee sick leave, and significant reductions in bureaucratic red tape.

Speaking Thursday, Merz framed the reforms as a turning point for the nation. “These reforms all have one goal: We’re setting out into the future,” he said. “We’re strengthening ourselves so that we can live well in these new times.”

Merz’s coalition — made up of center-right and center-left parties — took power just over a year ago with promises to turn Germany’s economy around. Europe’s largest economy has seen the coalition grow increasingly unpopular, largely due to public perception that the government has been more focused on internal squabbling than on delivering results.

The chancellor made clear he intends to shake that image. “From the very beginning, we set an agenda with a single goal in mind: We want to get Germany back on track. It is now clear that this is possible,” he said.

Germany’s economy did manage modest growth last year after two consecutive years of contraction. However, the government is only projecting 0.5% growth for this year — a figure weighed down by the fallout from the war in Iran.

The country of 83.5 million people was already contending with stiff competition from Chinese businesses, soaring energy costs stemming from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the economic pressure of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade threats. Deeper structural problems also persist, including high production costs, weak private investment, and increasingly expensive health and pension systems driven by an aging population.

Officials said Thursday that once fully in place by 2028, the tax cuts would deliver roughly 600 euros — about $64.40 — in annual savings for a household with two working parents, two children, and a combined taxable income of 60,000 euros (approximately $64,416). The overall tax relief across the reform package is estimated at around 10 billion euros, or about $11.4 billion, per year.

The pension overhaul would gradually raise the retirement age — currently set between 65 and 67 years depending on years of service — in step with rising life expectancy. Coalition leaders said they plan to adopt recommendations made last month by a government-appointed panel of experts and politicians to stabilize the pension system, with the goal of keeping pension levels steady and avoiding a large, long-term increase in the contributions workers pay into the system.

Under the new sick leave rules, employees would no longer be permitted to stay home for up to three days without a doctor’s note, or to request a week-long sick leave letter by phone without an in-person visit. Going forward, employers would have the right to require a doctor’s certificate beginning on the very first day an employee is absent. Merz has repeatedly pointed to Germany’s high rate of sick leave as a drag on the country’s productivity.

The government also announced plans to eliminate various reporting and documentation requirements, reduce data protection rules to the European Union’s minimum standard, and simplify the process of filing tax returns.

Not everyone welcomed the package. Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany party — which finished second in last year’s national elections — dismissed the reforms sharply. On the social media platform X, she called the measures “even more left-wing redistribution, and minimal compromises that don’t deserve to be called ‘reforms.’”

“The fact that this is being sold as a ‘breakthrough’ shows only one thing: this government’s complete inability to reform,” she wrote.

Despite the criticism, Merz appealed directly to the German public for support. Speaking at the chancellery’s garden in Berlin as the reforms were unveiled, he said, “We know that you, ladies and gentlemen — the citizens of our country — want decisions, and you don’t want conflict. And that is exactly what we have delivered.”

“Join us; support us in carrying out the reforms that are now necessary,” he added.

South Korea’s government is pushing back against a U.S. congressional report that accused Seoul of treating Coupang, a Seattle-based e-commerce company listed on U.S. markets, unfairly. The dispute comes after South Korean authorities hit Coupang with a record 625 billion won — roughly $403 million — fine in June, stemming from a massive data breach that affected millions of South Korean customers.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Park Il voiced regret over the report, which was released Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee. He said the document reflected “only Coupang’s unilateral claims” and left out Seoul’s perspective entirely.

Park maintained that South Korean authorities handled the Coupang case strictly according to domestic law, rejecting any suggestion that the company was singled out or treated unfairly. “Our handling of the Coupang case has focused on handling the personal data breach and protecting consumers, and our investigation into the company and the related measures have been carried out lawfully and without discrimination under relevant domestic laws,” he said.

He added that claims Seoul “carried out discriminatory investigations” and “imposed unfair regulations” on the company did not hold up to scrutiny.

The 35-page House Judiciary Committee report alleged that South Korea’s antitrust authorities used “coercive investigation tactics” and conducted a “harassment campaign” against Coupang. The report framed those actions as part of a broader pattern of discrimination targeting American-owned businesses operating in South Korea.

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission, after issuing the fine in June, said the breach exposed the personal data of more than 37 million individuals, including 33 million Coupang customers. The commission noted that Coupang failed to report the breach within the legally required 72-hour window and that the company’s security measures were inadequate — pointing out that the breach did not involve sophisticated hacking and could have been prevented with basic safeguards.

According to South Korean officials, a former Coupang employee used a stolen security key to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts. The company’s weak security protocols allowed the unidentified Chinese developer to continue accessing all customer data even after departing from the company.

Coupang issued an apology for the breach but announced it would contest the fine in administrative court, arguing that the privacy regulator failed to adequately take into account the company’s steps to improve security and limit further damage.

In a statement emailed to reporters, Coupang said: “We regret the circumstances that led to the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation, and we remain committed to finding a constructive resolution so Coupang can once again serve as a bridge to strengthen the U.S.-Korea alliance, accelerating trade and investment that benefits both countries.”

Coupang describes itself on its website as a “U.S. technology and Fortune 150 company” that connects American businesses and brands to international markets. Despite its U.S. headquarters in Seattle, the bulk of the company’s revenue comes from South Korea, where it is widely known for its speedy delivery of food, groceries, and everyday consumer goods.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, citing U.S. Senate lobbying disclosure records, reported that Coupang has spent more than $1 million on lobbying efforts in the United States since the data breach controversy surfaced in November. Those efforts have reportedly included outreach to both the White House and Congress.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Japan have announced a set of new agreements aimed at deepening their cooperation in defense, economic security, and maritime affairs following high-level talks held Thursday in New Delhi between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

After the meeting concluded, Modi told reporters that the two nations would work together on naval radio antenna systems and had adopted a joint road map focused on economic security. He added that both leaders agreed to boost cooperation across several sectors, including artificial intelligence, shipbuilding, biogas, semiconductors, and other critical technologies.

“India and Japan view economic security as a shared security interest,” Modi said.

Japan ranks among India’s biggest foreign investors and has supported major infrastructure developments in the country, including a high-speed rail line connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Roughly 1,400 Japanese companies currently operate in India, with nearly half of them engaged in manufacturing.

According to Indian government figures, trade between the two countries reached $27.5 billion during India’s 2025-26 fiscal year, while Japanese investment totaled $3.2 billion between April and December 2025.

Takaichi traveled to New Delhi for a three-day visit centered on the 16th annual India-Japan summit. The visit builds on momentum from Modi’s trip to Tokyo last year, during which Japan committed to more than doubling its investment in India to over $61 billion across the next decade. Both nations are looking to strengthen their partnership throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

India and Japan are both members of the Quad, alongside the United States and Australia. The grouping focuses on regional security, maritime cooperation, and defense matters, particularly in response to China’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Takaichi emphasized that both New Delhi and Tokyo are committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, grounded in freedom of navigation and respect for international law. “Expansion of maritime security cooperation is especially important for regional peace and stability,” she said.

When asked about the initiative, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded Thursday that certain countries were promoting “freedom and openness” while actually pursuing “confrontation and division.” He argued that such an approach contradicts what the region truly wants.

“Asia-Pacific needs stability, not turmoil; focus on cooperation, not division,” Guo said during a regular press briefing held in Beijing.

BEIJING (AP) — A pilot who deliberately flew a small aircraft into Beijing’s tallest building last Friday left behind diary entries referencing “ending his life,” according to Chinese authorities who announced their findings Thursday.

Officials from Beijing’s Chaoyang district government posted a statement on social media saying the investigation determined the crash resulted from “personal reasons.”

The pilot, a 66-year-old man identified only by the surname Liu, was killed in the crash. Thirteen other people sustained injuries, though none are considered life-threatening. One of those hurt has already been released from care, the government statement noted.

The incident occurred in a downtown high-rise district around 6 p.m. as workers were heading home, sparking concerns about security in the Chinese capital. The plane struck the glass exterior of the 108-story CITIC tower — commonly known as the “Zun” building due to its resemblance to an ancient wine vessel of the same name — leaving a visible hole in its facade.

According to the Chaoyang district statement, Liu initially flew with another person aboard the two-seat training aircraft before departing alone from a general aviation airport on the outskirts of Beijing. He then veered off his planned flight route and ground controllers lost contact with him.

Authorities described Liu as someone without steady employment who was divorced and living by himself. He reportedly suffered from insomnia and anxiety, and his diary contained multiple mentions of wanting to end his life.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — A young couple faced public caning in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Thursday after an Islamic Sharia court found them guilty of breaking religious law by sharing a kiss during a TikTok livestream.

The Sharia court handed down a sentence of 21 rattan cane strikes each for the pair, who were not married to one another. The punishment was carried out on a public stage at Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh by individuals dressed in robes and hoods, with a crowd of at least 100 people watching.

The couple — a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman — were taken into custody in April following a February 27 livestream that showed them kissing inside a car in Banda Aceh. The video spread widely online and triggered complaints to local Sharia authorities.

Aceh holds a unique status as the sole province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that operates under a form of Islamic law. The country’s secular national government gave the province the authority to enforce religious law in 2006 as part of an agreement that brought an end to a separatist conflict. In 2015, Aceh extended that law to cover non-Muslims, who make up roughly 1% of the province’s residents.

Under the law, offenses related to morality — such as adultery and same-sex relations — can result in up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used as punishment for gambling, drinking alcohol, women wearing form-fitting clothing, and men who miss Friday prayers.

Although the couple was originally sentenced to 25 lashes each, the total was reduced to 21 strokes to account for the four months they had already spent behind bars.

As part of the case, the court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, both of which are to be destroyed. Four additional individuals were also publicly caned Thursday on charges related to online gambling and adultery.

Amnesty International Indonesia characterized the public caning as a human rights violation, calling it cruel, inhumane, and an affront to human dignity — particularly given that Indonesia has signed an international agreement requiring the elimination of inhumane punishments.

Usman Hamid, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, spoke out against the sentence Thursday. “Such behavior might be considered inappropriate because social media is viewed by people of various age groups, including children. But is it a crime that warrants imprisonment or even caning? That would be excessive,” he said.

Not everyone shared that view. Aini Nadhirah, 22, a Banda Aceh resident who was present at the caning, felt the punishment was warranted. “In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media. It also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public,” Nadhirah said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian state television made headlines this week by claiming a foreign ship became grounded in the Strait of Hormuz after its crew ignored navigation instructions from the Islamic Republic’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. But a closer examination of the facts tells a very different story.

The vessel in question appears to be an Iranian-connected ship that has been stuck in those waters for months — not a foreign ship that recently defied Tehran’s orders.

Based on the ship’s physical appearance, its reported position, and other identifying details, experts believe the vessel is the container ship Arista, which appears to be flying a fraudulent flag connecting it to the island nation of Comoros. The Arista was previously known as the Panama-flagged Gauja — a ship the U.S. Treasury Department included in sanctions targeting what it described as a network that had been “generating tens of billions of dollars in profit” for Iran’s ruling elite.

Iranian state television broadcast on-screen alerts Wednesday describing a foreign ship that had run aground after disregarding orders from the Guard’s naval forces. A news anchor on the broadcast stated: “A foreign container ship, because of choosing a route other than the one designated under the Iranian order, has run aground in the Strait of Hormuz. This comes as the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has consistently warned that any entry into or exit from routes other than ‘the Route of Authority’ in the Persian Gulf could lead to irreparable incidents.”

The broadcast appeared designed to reinforce Tehran’s assertion that it holds authority over the strait, a critical passageway for global oil and natural gas shipments. Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran has used its ability to restrict traffic through the waterway as a major bargaining chip, causing disruptions in global energy markets and the flow of other essential goods.

TankerTrackers.com, a firm that monitors oil shipments at sea, was among the first to identify the vessel as the Arista. Video recorded by an Armenian news outlet matched the ship seen in Iranian state television footage to the Arista, with analysts pointing to the color patterns of the containers on deck and the vessel’s paint scheme as identifying features. Iranian state television never showed a close-up of the ship’s name or registration number — and in one shot, the name was deliberately blurred out.

Marine tracking records indicate the Arista has been grounded north of Hormuz Island, within Iran’s own territorial waters, since mid-March. Data shows the ship had been traveling between Hormuz and Asaluyeh, another Iranian port, when it became stuck.

Iranian state television and Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to questions from The Associated Press on Thursday regarding the broadcast.

On July 30, the U.S. Treasury Department connected the Arista — at that time still known as the Gauja — to a large-scale oil smuggling operation run by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, a son of Ali Shamkhani, who had served as a senior security adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elder Shamkhani was killed in an airstrike at the beginning of the war, along with Khamenei.

According to the Treasury Department, the smuggling network moved sanctioned Iranian and Russian oil, along with other commodities, to buyers across the globe.

“The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement released at the time of the sanctions.

Following the imposition of those sanctions, the Gauja was renamed the Arista and began operating under a Comoros flag — which shipping records classify as a “false” flag, meaning it is used to conceal a vessel’s true origins. This practice is commonly used by ships in Iran’s so-called shadow fleet to avoid detection and enforcement.

Catastrophe and risk modeling firm Verisk announced Thursday that it expects economic losses from the recent Venezuelan earthquake to surpass $10 billion.

Two powerful earthquakes struck north-central Venezuela near heavily populated areas on June 24. The death toll has climbed into the thousands, and the government has declared a national state of emergency in response.

According to Verisk, the hardest-hit areas were the Caracas metropolitan region and the coastal state of La Guaira. The firm noted that an estimated 1,400 buildings were destroyed across those areas.

Verisk also cautioned that estimating insured losses for this event carries more uncertainty than usual. The company pointed to several complicating factors, including difficult macroeconomic conditions, elevated inflation, low rates of insurance coverage among the population, and market complexities tied to international sanctions.

WARSAW — Poland’s defense minister is publicly accusing Ukraine of breaking a technology-sharing agreement, saying Kyiv has failed to hand over promised drone technology even as Poland has remained one of Ukraine’s most steadfast military allies.

Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz made the accusation during an appearance on Polish radio broadcaster Trojka on Thursday, saying negotiations over exchanging the remaining MiG-29 fighter jets for access to Ukrainian drone technology had been ongoing for several months.

“Initially, they agreed to such a resolution, but today they are not honouring the agreement,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Poland has stood firmly behind Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, offering military assistance and functioning as a critical logistics corridor for aid flowing in from Western nations. Despite that strong partnership, the two countries have seen their relationship tested at times by disagreements over agricultural imports and unresolved historical grievances.

The current strain follows a decision by Polish President Karol Nawrocki to revoke Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s highest Polish state honor. That move came amid a dispute over a Ukrainian military unit named after insurgents that Warsaw holds responsible for the killing of Polish civilians during World War Two.

Kosiniak-Kamysz pointed out what he sees as a double standard, noting that Ukraine has been selling drones commercially to other countries even while fighting a war.

“If Ukraine is already able to sell drones to Kuwait and generate revenue from it while at war, then it is capable of reciprocating to those who provide their equipment and — at times, symbolically — sharing its own capabilities,” he said.

When asked why Ukraine was refusing to follow through, the minister suggested that President Zelenskiy’s government was deliberately keeping historical disputes with Poland alive for political purposes back home.

“I think this stems from the strategy they have adopted now — that a conflict rooted in history is what is currently building President Zelenskiy’s image,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

He also warned that this approach is having unintended consequences, arguing that it is giving fuel to far-right political parties looking to exploit anti-Ukrainian sentiment among the Polish public.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, Abdelrahman Badr said he heard footsteps approaching his home in Hebron, located in the occupied West Bank. Moments later, Israeli forces were knocking at his door — and they were there for his wife.

The forces took away Itaf Badr, who sits on the board of a well-known health charity, telling her husband she was wanted for questioning. She was driven off in the middle of the night, according to Abdelrahman.

Itaf was one of five Palestinian women taken into custody by Israeli security forces across the West Bank that morning. The pre-dawn operations targeted several cities, among them Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Bethlehem, according to the detainees’ families and Palestinian rights organizations.

Throughout most of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, Palestinian men and boys have largely been the ones swept up in military detentions — jailed for years, sometimes for actions as minor as throwing rocks at Israeli troops. But that dynamic is shifting.

Abdullah Al-Zaghari, who heads the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club — a nongovernmental organization that advocates for political prisoners held in Israeli jails — said Israeli security forces are increasingly detaining women and girls. He said gender is no longer a factor in who his organization believes Israel is targeting, with arrests spanning political activists and student leaders at Palestinian universities alike.

According to Israeli rights group Hamoked, which collects data from the Israel Prison Service, women now represent a small but growing portion of the approximately 9,300 Palestinians currently held in Israeli detention.

The number of Palestinian women and girls in Israeli custody has more than doubled since the Israel-Hamas war began and has risen 80% since the start of 2026. Fifteen women have been arrested since the beginning of June alone, pushing the total to 99, based on data from the Prisoners’ Club.

Al-Zaghari said some of those arrested were taken in after posting content on social media, including messages critical of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank or the ongoing war in Gaza. Others were affiliated with student branches of Palestinian political parties at their universities.

Many detainees have been held without formal charges under Israel’s administrative detention policy, which permits authorities to imprison Palestinians for renewable periods of up to six months at a time.

Just last month, Israeli soldiers arrested at least five other young women, including four members of the Palestinian national soccer team and a 20-year-old Palestinian-American named Sama Safi. The military stated those women were suspected of “promoting terrorist activities.” At least one has since been freed, while the others have yet to be formally charged, according to their lawyers. Safi’s detention has prompted criticism from several U.S. senators, who have called for her immediate release.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military directed questions about the arrests in Ramallah and Nablus to Israel’s Border Police, which also operates in the West Bank. Regarding Itaf’s arrest in Hebron, the military said it was looking into the matter but did not provide a response explaining why she was detained.

The families of the women arrested Wednesday said they remained in the dark about the reasons behind the detentions.

In Nablus, Wael al-Faqih said Israeli forces came to his home and arrested his wife, Maiser al-Faqih. She had been detained before and, like Itaf, had previously worked with the Union of Health Work Committees, a charity that delivers medical services to low-income communities.

Israel has claimed the organization has ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which it has labeled a terrorist group. The charity has denied those allegations.

“We still don’t know what it was about,” Wael said. He recounted how Israeli forces searched both him and his son before instructing Maiser to put on her hijab — and then taking her away.

Abdelrahman said he believes his wife’s involvement with the charity made her a target. His account of her arrest echoed Wael’s. Itaf was first brought outside and then handcuffed on the street.

“I looked at them from the window, they shouted at me and my son,” he said. Then, “they grabbed her, blindfolded her and put her in the military vehicle.”

LONDON — The British government is preparing to issue a formal apology Thursday for its role in forcibly separating tens of thousands of unmarried mothers from their babies — a practice that spanned several decades before ending in the 1970s.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will take to the floor of the House of Commons to acknowledge the government’s involvement in forced adoptions and offer an apology to those who lived through the experience.

The United Kingdom joins a number of nations confronting a troubling history rooted in social stigma, religious institutions, and government policy — all of which combined to shame unwed mothers, confine them during pregnancy, and hand their children over to married couples for adoption.

Between 1949 and 1976, approximately 185,000 babies born to unmarried women were adopted in England and Wales. Advocates have spent years pushing for official recognition that many of these mothers were pressured, misled, and threatened into surrendering their children.

Ann Keen, a former U.K. health minister who had her own baby taken for adoption in 1966 when she was 17, said she is eager to finally feel “released from my shame.”

“We need this apology, because we have always been accused of giving up our babies, and we didn’t give them up,” she told the BBC. “We’ve now got the opportunity to really put this wrong right.”

A 2022 report from Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights called on the British government to apologize for “the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into unwanted adoptions.”

Scotland and Wales, which operate with a degree of self-governance, both issued their own apologies the year after that report. However, the Conservative government in power at the time chose not to follow their lead.

The apology now coming from Prime Minister Starmer’s Labour government arrives just two weeks after the Church of England offered its own acknowledgment of wrongdoing in connection with forced adoptions.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally stated that “we are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced — and still carried — by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England.”

Several other countries have faced similar reckonings. In 2013, Australia’s then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a nationally significant apology for that country’s forced adoption history, calling it a source of “lifelong legacy of pain and suffering.”

Ireland has also grappled with the dark history of mother-and-baby homes operated by the Catholic Church, where tens of thousands of women were kept in frequently degrading conditions. A 2021 inquiry revealed that 9,000 children had died across 18 such homes during the 20th century.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin offered an apology for the “profound and generational wrong” done to the mothers and children who passed through those institutions.

PARIS (AP) — Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, says a court order requiring her to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet would force her out of next year’s presidential race.

A Paris appeals court is scheduled to hand down its verdict on Tuesday in a case that could determine whether Le Pen is eligible to seek the French presidency.

Le Pen, who is 57 years old, is contesting a ruling from March 2025 in which a Paris court found her and fellow members of her National Rally party guilty of misappropriating European Union Parliament funds. The scheme allegedly involved hiring assistants between 2004 and 2016 who were said to be doing party work rather than fulfilling their parliamentary duties.

Should the appeals court uphold the conviction, Le Pen could face a ban from holding elected office, electronic monitoring, or both, along with other possible penalties.

Speaking in a late Wednesday interview on LCI channel, Le Pen made clear that her ability to campaign freely was the deciding factor. “If I can be a candidate, I will be a candidate, provided that I am able to campaign,” she said. “Because if I’m allowed to be a candidate but am effectively prevented from campaigning freely, then you understand that wouldn’t be possible.”

When a reporter asked whether the electronic bracelet specifically would be the main barrier to her running, she was direct: “Well, of course. I can’t be dependent on a judge to authorize me to go hold a campaign rally … or to visit a market.”

Le Pen has consistently rejected the allegation that she was the driving force behind what prosecutors described as a scheme to divert EU funds. The original March 2025 verdict concluded that Le Pen sat at the core of “a fraudulent system” her party used to siphon roughly 2.9 million euros — approximately $3.4 million — from the European Parliament. Under that ruling, she received a five-year ban from holding public office and two years of house arrest with electronic monitoring.

France’s next presidential election is scheduled to begin with its first round on April 18, followed by a runoff on May 2.

If the appeals court rules against her, Le Pen says she intends to exhaust every legal option available. “If I cannot be a candidate, I will make use of every available avenue of appeal,” she said. One such option would be taking the case to the Court of Cassation, a body that does not re-examine the facts but instead reviews whether lower courts properly followed the law. That process could take roughly six months.

Political observers widely consider Le Pen a leading contender to replace centrist President Emmanuel Macron if she is permitted to run. If she is barred, her 30-year-old protege Jordan Bardella is expected to step in as the party’s candidate.

When asked how she and Bardella differ, Le Pen pointed to her three previous presidential campaigns as evidence of her experience, while also praising her younger colleague. “We are complementary. I believe I have a certain experience, but Jordan has an absolutely incredible dynamism; he has the strength and energy of his youth,” she said.

Russia likely used so-called shadow fleet ships as launch platforms for drones that repeatedly flew over European nations, disrupting air travel and gathering intelligence on NATO military installations, according to a new report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank published Thursday.

The report, which was shared with The Associated Press ahead of its release, tracked 144 suspected drone sightings across Europe — including over NATO member nations Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Denmark — spanning 2024 through 2026.

The frequency of those sightings peaked in late 2025, forcing temporary closures at several European airports, including facilities in Germany, Spain, and Denmark.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the events in her country the “most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date.”

According to the IISS, Russia deliberately kept the campaign below the level that would trigger a formal NATO collective response. The think tank called the situation a “strategic failure” for Europe, saying the continent’s air defenses are simply not equipped to handle this type of threat.

Air Chief Marshal John Stringer, NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, told AP that each alliance member nation bears the responsibility of deciding how to handle such threats — and that many are now treating them with increasing urgency.

While several senior European officials acknowledged the difficulty of directly attributing the drone activity to Russia, Stringer stopped short of blaming Moscow. However, he noted that the behavior fits a broader pattern of disruption across Europe that Western officials have attributed to Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Among the countries that have confirmed drone sightings, only Sweden has publicly pointed the finger at Moscow — in a case where a military drone flew toward a French aircraft carrier from a Russian spy ship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in May that Russia is not conducting a sabotage campaign against Europe.

Drones present a unique detection challenge because they travel at low altitudes and slow speeds, often appearing on radar as birds or small aircraft. They can be launched from within or near a country’s borders, making traditional missile defense systems — built to intercept high-speed projectiles fired from far away — largely ineffective. Additionally, even when a drone is brought down, tracing its origin and identifying who deployed it remains extremely difficult.

The IISS concluded that European nations must rapidly upgrade their drone defense capabilities in response to the growing number of incursions.

Lt. Gen. Jonny Lindfors, Sweden’s military representative to NATO, told AP that building a full picture of drone threats is complicated by the fact that responsibility for addressing them is divided among multiple agencies and authorities. He also described the decision to shoot down a drone as a “tough decision” given the potential for civilian casualties.

A June report from Denmark’s Defense Command acknowledged that the country’s armed forces “could have been in a stronger position” to respond to drone sightings and identified weaknesses in detection equipment. Denmark and several other European nations have since pledged to strengthen their drone defenses.

Stringer noted that countries that may have taken a “benign” view of drone threats just a few years ago now recognize that counter-drone systems are an essential component of air defense.

The IISS analyzed the movements of Russian shadow fleet vessels — ships with unclear ownership used to help Russia evade international sanctions — and determined it is highly likely these ships are being used to deploy drones.

The report concentrated on drone activity across central and northwestern Europe and did not cover incursions along NATO’s eastern flank, where both Russian and Ukrainian attack drones have crossed into European airspace.

The IISS noted that on December 2, a shadow ship called the Vezhen — previously linked to the cutting of a Baltic undersea cable — was sailing in circles off the coast of Ireland at the same time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived for his first official visit to the country. A second vessel was reportedly nearby with its tracking signal switched off.

During that same period, four large military drones were observed off the Dublin coastline, circling above an Irish navy vessel for roughly two hours. The Irish Defense Forces did not respond to a request for comment.

The report highlighted several additional incidents tied to the presence of shadow fleet ships, many of them in Denmark:

On January 3, 2025, as the shadow fleet vessel Arctica traveled along the Danish coast, up to 20 drones were observed flying over the port of Koege before heading back out to sea.

On September 22, drone activity led to the closure of Copenhagen Airport. The IISS identified several shadow ships in the surrounding waters at the time, including the Arctica and the Boracay.

Over the following days, as the Boracay navigated around Denmark and other vessels were in the vicinity, additional drones were reported throughout the country, including near military sites.

The IISS said suspicion for at least some of the September sightings centered on the Boracay. French military personnel boarded the vessel at the end of that month, and French President Emmanuel Macron said he could not rule out the ship’s involvement in the drone flights over Denmark.

Denmark’s Defense Command confirmed that drones were detected in Danish airspace during September and October 2025. While it stopped short of linking them directly to Russia, it noted that Moscow is conducting hybrid attacks against the West on a “character and scope far beyond what Russia carried out before the war in Ukraine.”

Lindfors called it “a reasonable assumption” that Russia is using shadow ships to launch drones, though he acknowledged it is often “almost impossible” to conclusively attribute them to any single country or actor.

The IISS report also concluded that Russia likely attempted to gather intelligence on military installations in the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany, while also forcing NATO nations to activate air defenses — potentially exposing radar positions and gaps in coverage. Notable incidents cited in the report include:

The U.S. Air Force in Europe reported multiple drone sightings in November 2024 over four American air bases in the United Kingdom.

German authorities logged more than 1,000 suspicious drone sightings in 2025, including over defense manufacturers and military bases where Ukrainian soldiers were receiving training.

Defense officials in the Netherlands and Belgium reported drones spotted over military installations in November and December 2025. The IISS noted those bases are believed to store American B61 nuclear weapons.

Drone sightings were also reported at the Ile Longue submarine base in France, home to the country’s nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines.

The U.S. Air Force in Europe declined to provide additional details on the incidents in the U.K., Netherlands, and Belgium, and would not confirm the presence of American nuclear weapons at those sites.

A British defense official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject, said a defense police investigation found no conclusive evidence linking the U.K. drone sightings to Russia. The Dutch Defense Ministry confirmed that drones were observed over Volkel Air Base and said it took protective measures at military sites.

The French army’s chief of staff headquarters said an investigation into the drones spotted over Ile Longue remains ongoing and did not address questions about whether shadow fleet ships may have been involved.

Requests for comment were also submitted to defense ministries in Belgium, Denmark, and Germany.

With the sheer volume of incidents mounting, Lindfors said “it would be naive to believe it’s just a coincidence” — suggesting that drone threats of this kind have become the new normal for European security.

Indian authorities are working to retrieve the remains of a climber widely known as “Green Boots” from the upper slopes of Mount Everest — nearly three decades after the mountaineer lost his life on the world’s tallest peak.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, an Indian paramilitary organization, has launched the process of hiring specialists trained in high-altitude recovery missions. The goal is to bring back what officials believe are the remains of Dorje Morup from Everest’s northern route, which runs through Tibet.

Morup was among six Indo-Tibetan Border Police members who attempted to climb Everest in May 1996. As conditions near the summit turned dangerous, three members of the group turned around and headed back down. Morup and two other climbers pushed forward — and all three perished in a storm that ultimately killed eight people across several expeditions. It was considered one of the deadliest tragedies in Everest’s history at that time.

Morup’s remains earned the nickname “Green Boots” due to the vivid green mountaineering boots he was wearing when he died. His body rests in Everest’s so-called “death zone,” above 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), and has long been used as a reference point by climbers navigating the mountain’s northeast route.

Because the remains are located on Everest’s Tibetan side, any recovery operation requires approval from Chinese authorities, who tightly control access and climbing permits in that area. China has closed the mountain to foreign climbers for the 2026 spring climbing season, though no official explanation has been given for that decision.

Bringing in the recovery specialists is just the first step. The actual operation would still require Chinese authorization and favorable weather conditions before it could move forward. It remains unclear whether an Indian, Nepali, or Chinese team would ultimately carry out the retrieval. Chinese officials have made no public statement regarding the plan.

Pemba Sherpa, who founded the Kathmandu-based Xtreme Climbers Treks and Expedition, explained the challenges involved. “It is not impossible to retrieve the body from Everest, but the first challenge is getting permission from the Chinese officials and then only can they proceed to bring the body down,” he said.

Since Mount Everest was first successfully climbed in 1953, nearly 350 people have died attempting the ascent. The bodies of many climbers remain on the mountain’s frozen slopes because bringing them down is both dangerous and costly.

Recovering remains from the death zone is especially treacherous. Helicopters are unable to operate at that altitude, meaning experienced Sherpa guides and high-altitude climbers must physically carry bodies down steep terrain on foot — all while contending with avalanche dangers, brutal weather, and the physical toll of extreme altitude and oxygen deprivation.

BANGKOK — Eight Buddhist monks lost their lives Thursday after an 11-year-old boy drove a pickup truck into their group during a pilgrimage walk in northeastern Thailand, according to officials.

A total of 35 monks from Mukdahan province, located roughly 600 kilometers northeast of Bangkok, were participating in the religious walk when the crash occurred. Five monks died at the scene, while three more passed away at a hospital. Mukdahan Governor Worrayan Boonnarat confirmed the death toll and noted that 14 additional monks were taken to the hospital, with four of them in critical condition.

The pilgrimage group had only been walking for about 30 minutes when the crash happened. They were headed on a 260-kilometer journey to Ubon Ratchathani province.

Security camera footage released by a local rescue organization, the Ruam Jai Mukdahan Rescue Association, captured the terrifying moment. The video shows the monks walking in a single-file line along the roadside before the truck suddenly veers off the road and slams into the group.

The 11-year-old driver has been taken into custody, according to local police. Authorities said he will be formally questioned once state child protection officers are present.

Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash. Investigators said surviving monks reported seeing the truck swerving before it left the road and struck the group.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s joint military command issued a stern warning Thursday, declaring that all oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz must stick to routes approved by Tehran — or face what it called a “forceful response.” The announcement marks another escalation in tensions surrounding one of the world’s most critical waterways for energy shipments.

The narrow passage at the mouth of the Persian Gulf has become a central flashpoint in ongoing efforts to negotiate a lasting end to the Iran war. The warning, issued by the Khatam al-Anbiya military command and broadcast on Iranian state television, came just one day after U.S. and Iranian diplomats separately met with mediators in Qatar on Wednesday.

The exact trigger for the threat was not immediately apparent. However, U.S. military’s Central Command had recently released a statement following a meeting with officials from Middle Eastern nations in Bahrain, in which “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.” That language appears to have drawn Iran’s ire.

Iran is also preparing for funeral services beginning this weekend for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the opening moments of the war in February.

The Iranian military’s statement left little room for ambiguity: “Any failure to comply, deviation from the designated route, or disregard for the navigation protocols of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz will be met with an immediate and forceful response from the armed forces, endangering the security of the violating vessels.”

The statement went further, taking direct aim at American air activity in the region. It declared that the ongoing presence of U.S. fighter jets above the strait “causes insecurity in this waterway and threatens regional security.” Iran also warned that “any attempt by the United States to interfere in security matters or any disruptive action in the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a threat to Iran’s national sovereignty and will be met with a rapid and decisive reaction.”

As part of a temporary agreement, Iran and the United States had agreed to allow ships to pass through the strait without fees for 60 days. However, Tehran has insisted it must control the paths those vessels take and has pushed for the right to collect passage fees going forward — a position that would overturn longstanding international practice in the waterway.

The United States and many Gulf Arab nations have refused to accept those fee demands. A recent attempt by Oman and a United Nations agency to establish an alternative shipping route near Oman’s coastline set off a series of attacks across the Middle East last weekend, underscoring just how volatile the situation remains.

DUBAI — A senior Iranian military commander issued a stern warning Thursday to the United States and Israel, urging both nations not to take any aggressive action against Iran as the country prepares to hold state funeral ceremonies for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in airstrikes on the opening day of the war.

Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, delivered the warning through Iranian state media. “We warn the enemies of Iran, especially the U.S. and the Zionist regime (Israel), to avoid any miscalculation and to think about the harsh retaliation our armed forces would make to any threat and aggression against our country,” he said.

Funeral processions for Khamenei are scheduled to begin on July 4 in Tehran. The ceremonies will also include stops in Qom and Iraq before concluding on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad.

The warning echoes similar remarks made Wednesday by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who stated that Tehran would respond immediately and forcefully to any threat directed at its people or leadership. His comments came after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described Iran’s current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as “marked for death.”

Iranian media also reported that security has been significantly increased throughout the funeral period. The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation confirmed Wednesday that temporary flight restrictions will be put in place over several cities, including Tehran and Mashhad, during the ceremonies.

NEW DELHI — India and Japan formalized several new agreements Thursday aimed at deepening their partnership across artificial intelligence, metals, and energy, with the two nations also mapping out a shared strategy for economic security.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the deals following face-to-face discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who arrived in New Delhi for a three-day visit as part of the two countries’ 16th annual summit.

“The convergence of Japan’s precision technology and India’s software capabilities will give a new momentum and strength to global AI development,” Modi told reporters after the talks concluded.

According to Indian government figures, bilateral trade between the two nations hit $27.5 billion in fiscal year 2025/26, while Japanese investment flowing into India totaled $3.2 billion between April and December of 2025.

Both countries are also members of the Quad grouping, and Modi noted that they reached a milestone by signing an agreement on their very first joint defense co-development project.

Modi also highlighted a new initiative focused on clean energy. “Through the India-Japan bio-gas Initiative, we will set up 1,000 bio-gas and organic fertilizer plants in India,” he said.

Japan ranks among India’s top investors, with financial backing behind major infrastructure efforts such as the high-speed rail corridor connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Japanese companies have also been increasing their stakes in Indian businesses, including a recent $1.6 billion investment for a 20% share in Yes Bank.

Takaichi made the trip accompanied by a sizeable business delegation and was scheduled to address a business conference later Thursday.

Central bank leaders from across the globe believe they may have found a reliable partner in the new head of the Federal Reserve, offering a rare moment of goodwill in what has otherwise been a strained relationship with Washington.

During a three-day gathering hosted by the European Central Bank in Sintra, Portugal, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh held a series of one-on-one meetings with counterparts from Europe and other regions. Among those meetings was an extended lunch with ECB President Christine Lagarde, held in the courtyard of the historic former convent where the conference takes place.

According to sources familiar with the discussions, the conversations stayed largely at a high level, with little focus on specific topics like inflation trends, shadow-banking risks, or cross-border policy coordination.

Even so, central bank officials read Warsh’s willingness to engage as a positive signal — an indication that the Fed intends to remain an active participant in the international forums that have long served as the backbone of global monetary cooperation.

That signal carried real weight. Behind closed doors, some central bankers had expressed concern that a Fed chair chosen by the Trump administration might be more vulnerable to White House pressure on interest rates, or less invested in the kind of international coordination that has defined global monetary policy for decades.

The stakes are considerable. The Federal Reserve serves as the primary source of dollar liquidity during financial crises and, for certain countries, holds a significant portion of their gold reserves. It also carries the most influential voice in worldwide conversations about monetary policy and financial regulation.

With that in mind, policymakers arrived in Sintra eager to determine whether the strong working bonds many had built with former Fed Chair Jerome Powell would carry over under new leadership.

Several attendees who had previously worked alongside Warsh — either during his time as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, or through his later participation in the Group of Thirty consultative organization — said they recognized the same policymaker they had known for years. Others urged caution, noting it was premature to draw conclusions about how he would handle the dual pressures of maintaining credibility and managing expectations from the White House.

Warsh’s reception at the conference stood out, particularly given that many of those same attendees had previously rallied around Powell during his extended public dispute with former President Trump. That group had publicly defended Powell’s independence, and participants at last year’s Sintra conference had given him a standing ovation.

This year’s atmosphere was notably warmer. Lagarde set the tone at the opening dinner, greeting the late-arriving Warsh with air kisses and publicly stating her eagerness to work together. Warsh responded in kind.

Fluent in French after having studied in France, Warsh conversed with several French attendees in their native language. Rather than staying in a tight circle as some high-profile guests tend to do, he moved freely among central bank governors at Tuesday’s informal dinner.

Appearing on a panel with Lagarde, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, Warsh adopted a notably warm and collaborative tone, saying he was “honoured to be on stage with three colleagues.”

While such details might appear minor, personal relationships carry genuine importance in the tight-knit world of central banking — particularly when coordinated action is needed during moments of financial instability.

Conference participants also noted areas of agreement on how central banks communicate their policies. Warsh’s preference for straightforward messaging and his skepticism toward forward guidance — the practice of signaling future policy moves — appeared to align with a broader “back to basics” theme that emerged throughout the gathering.

He used the conference to reaffirm the Fed’s independence and acknowledged that policymakers across different countries share a number of “common calls.”

Lagarde suggested the ECB no longer required “complex forms of forward guidance,” while Bailey observed that such guidance was “much easier to put in place than it is to take it away.”

There were some underlying differences. Lagarde said the ECB would continue to explain how it responds to new economic data, describing the approach as “framework guidance” — a phrase that later appeared in Macklem’s remarks as well. Warsh, meanwhile, showed little inclination to discuss the Fed’s own policy approach in detail.

Despite those distinctions, attendees tended to emphasize the shared ground rather than the gaps. Some pointed to internal ECB discussions about normalizing bank reserve requirements as further evidence that central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are stepping away from the emergency-era policies that defined the past decade and a half.

BISHKEK — Kyrgyzstan has formally reached out to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan for help securing stable fuel supplies, as fears mount over potential shortages stemming from Ukraine’s ongoing drone strikes against Russian oil refineries.

The landlocked Central Asian nation, home to approximately 7 million people, depends on Russia for more than 90% of its gasoline. That heavy reliance has become a serious vulnerability as Russia itself grapples with growing domestic fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the problem last week, saying Moscow may move to ban diesel exports as domestic supply pressures continue to mount.

Kyrgyzstan’s energy ministry confirmed the outreach in an official statement, saying: “To ensure sustainable fuel supplies, official requests have been sent to the relevant government authorities of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.”

Despite the diplomatic requests, the ministry said current fuel stocks remain adequate and that deliveries are continuing on schedule. Kyrgyz authorities had already taken steps in June to stabilize prices, introducing retail price controls on certain types of fuel.

However, the country’s oil traders’ association painted a somewhat different picture, noting that some gas stations are experiencing shortages of AI-95 grade gasoline. The more commonly used AI-92 grade is reported to have sufficient reserves to last between 30 and 45 days. Diesel fuel, which is especially important during the harvest season, remains available.

Kyrgyzstan’s situation reflects a broader challenge facing Central Asian economies, which are deeply connected to Russia’s. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, these nations have endured repeated bouts of inflation. At the same time, Kyrgyzstan has emerged as a major transit hub for goods being rerouted to Russia in response to Western sanctions.

BEIJING — China’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that senior lawmaker He Wei will travel to Tehran to attend funeral ceremonies for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A ministry spokesperson revealed at a routine press conference that He is scheduled to attend an event on July 3.

He Wei holds the position of vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which serves as China’s primary lawmaking body.

Khamenei died on February 28, the opening day of combined Israeli and U.S. airstrikes targeting Iran. According to Iranian state media, his official state funeral is set to begin in Tehran on July 4, with his burial planned for July 9 in his hometown of Mashhad, a holy city located in northeastern Iran.

Regional authorities in Germany confirmed Thursday that a fire broke out at a hospital in the northwestern city of Ludwigslust, resulting in the deaths of two patients, according to the German news agency dpa.

A spokeswoman for the Ludwigslust-Parchim district told dpa that both victims were patients at the facility, which is located northwest of Berlin. Early indications suggest the fire originated inside one of the patient rooms.

The blaze spread to the hospital’s roof before sunrise, prompting staff to evacuate both patients and personnel from the building. While additional people were reported injured in the incident, dpa indicated that none of those injuries were considered serious.

BERLIN — Facing intense political scrutiny, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s governing coalition announced a broad set of policy reforms Thursday that includes approximately €10 billion ($11 billion) in yearly tax relief aimed at lower-income workers, along with changes to the country’s pension structure and efforts to expand affordable housing.

Merz and his coalition partners have been under considerable pressure to deliver results, as polling shows the coalition trailing behind the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The chancellor has also faced challenges navigating internal disagreements within the coalition that have slowed his ability to build political momentum.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Merz struck a determined tone. “We want to get Germany back on track,” he said.

The reform package covers a wide range of issues and is designed to reduce bureaucratic red tape across multiple sectors. Among the measures included are an action plan to combat benefit fraud, the elimination of workers’ ability to obtain sick leave documentation over the phone, and a target to reduce staffing levels at federal ministries by 8% through increased digitization of government services.

To help pay for the tax relief benefiting lower earners, the government plans to raise the top income tax rate from 45% to 47% for individuals earning €280,000 or more annually.

Google and its parent company Alphabet have suffered a major legal defeat in Europe, with the continent’s highest court upholding a record-breaking antitrust fine stemming from practices tied to the Android mobile operating system.

Back in 2018, the European Commission slapped Google with a €4.34 billion penalty, citing agreements the company had in place that required phone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search, the Chrome browser, and the Google Play app store on Android devices. Those agreements also prevented manufacturers from using competing versions of the Android system.

Google challenged that penalty, and a lower court reduced the fine to €4.1 billion in 2022. The tech giant then took its case to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union — the EU’s top court — in hopes of overturning the ruling entirely.

That effort failed. The court ruled against Google and Alphabet, with judges stating: “The appeal brought by Google and its parent company Alphabet against the judgment of the General Court is dismissed, thereby confirming the penalty imposed for Google Search’s abuse of a dominant position in the context of the Android operating system.”

A Google spokesperson pushed back on the decision, arguing the ruling did not properly account for the company’s investments in keeping Android open, interoperable, and free of charge.

“In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018 and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers,” the company said in a statement.

This latest ruling adds to a growing pile of EU antitrust penalties against the tech giant. In total, Google has accumulated nearly €11 billion in fines from European regulators over the past several decades for various violations.

More fines could be on the horizon. Google is currently facing scrutiny under the EU’s Digital Markets Act for allegedly favoring its own products in search results and for certain practices related to its app store.

The case is officially recorded as C-738/22 P Google and Alphabet v Commission.

A U.S. House Judiciary Committee interim report is accusing South Korean authorities of carrying out a sustained campaign of discrimination against Coupang, a Seattle-based online retailer that operates as the largest e-commerce platform in South Korea.

According to the Republican-controlled committee, that discrimination intensified following a data breach at Coupang last year, with the report describing what it called a “whole-of-government assault on Coupang” by South Korean agencies.

The committee’s report also stated that such discriminatory actions against Coupang and other U.S. and foreign companies “directly violates” a recent bilateral trade agreement between the two nations.

South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il fired back, calling the report one-sided and saying it reflected only Coupang’s version of events — despite months of communication between the South Korean government and the committee. He flatly denied that Coupang or any other U.S. companies had faced discrimination.

The data breach at the center of the controversy involved a former Coupang employee who accessed customer data tied to as many as 33.7 million accounts. Coupang later clarified that the individual only stored and kept data from approximately 3,000 of those accounts.

Following the breach, the report says more than 10 South Korean government agencies launched dozens of investigations into Coupang that had no connection to the breach itself. Those investigations generated more than 4,000 document requests and included at least 652 interviews with Coupang staff.

The report further alleges that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, known as the NIS, pressured Coupang into conducting a risky recovery operation. That effort reportedly involved sending a company employee to China to retrieve devices and sworn statements from the former employee behind the breach. Coupang also hired divers to pull a discarded laptop from a river as part of the recovery effort.

The report states that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was briefed on that recovery operation.

The NIS denied in December that it had directed or overseen Coupang’s investigation or recovery efforts, saying it had only requested materials from the company. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly Intelligence Committee, said Thursday there had been “absolutely” no coercion involved. The presidential Blue House had no immediate comment.

In a statement, Coupang said it regretted the events that led to the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation. The company added that it is “committed to finding a constructive resolution so Coupang can once again serve as a bridge to strengthen the U.S.-Korea alliance, accelerating trade and investment that benefits both countries.”

In Russia’s grain-growing heartland, farmers are worried they may not be able to bring in their harvests as a fuel crisis — set off by Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries and storage facilities — disrupts everyday life across the country.

Ukraine has been targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure in an effort to pressure Moscow toward peace talks. The resulting damage has squeezed fuel supplies in a country that is itself rich in oil, triggering restrictions across most regions and growing unrest among the public.

With fuel hard to come by, drivers have turned to crowd-sourced maps and online tips to track down stations that still have gas and shorter wait times. Tempers have flared as well, with videos circulating on social media showing drivers coming to blows while waiting to fill their tanks.

In one widely shared clip titled “The Ultimate Luxury 2026,” a man slowly fills his lawnmower from a jerry can and quips: “What riches. Who can afford this now?”

The desperation is showing up in internet searches too. Online queries for “how to siphon fuel” skyrocketed from 697 searches to more than 9,300 by June 21, according to the website iPhones.ru, which cited data from the search engine Yandex.

The situation is an uncomfortable one for Russian authorities, who had initially tried to dismiss the fuel shortages as isolated supply problems. But social media posts are painting a broader picture — including farmers in the fertile Black Earth region struggling to pay for fuel needed to run their equipment, and one account describing a farmer who had to drive his combine harvester directly to a regular gas station because he wasn’t permitted to fill a container.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm those accounts.

Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s own energy infrastructure since launching what it calls its special military operation in 2022, leaving millions of Ukrainians without electricity or heat during the winter months.

On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin publicly admitted there were problems and pledged action to steady the fuel market. He stressed the importance of keeping the agricultural sector supplied, saying “the harvest depends on it.”

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Putin’s point person on energy matters, said Wednesday that the issues were being worked through. Reuters also reported exclusively that Russia has begun importing gasoline by sea from India, and that Kazakhstan has agreed to ship 50,000 metric tons of fuel to Russia in July and August.

Even before the shortages worsened last month, a new poll showed Russians were already feeling more economically pessimistic than at any point in the last two decades.

Some regions are already seeing cutbacks in basic services. In the Zabaikalsky region, which borders China and Mongolia, authorities have cancelled certain bus routes and a waste collection company suspended operations in four districts, both citing lack of fuel.

“More scary is how much groceries will cost. All deliveries are done by road,” one person wrote in response to a story about the service cuts on the regional news site Chita.ru. The comment received more than 100 likes.

If the strikes continue and fuel shortages drag on, analysts warn the hardship could chip away at public support for the war, which began in February 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is now in its fifth year.

At a filling station in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Monday, a resident named Tatiana Sedykh told Reuters she was relieved to be driving a diesel vehicle. “The line for gasoline is just insane,” she said. “I’m starting to think maybe I should begin walking to work.”

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algerians headed to the polls Thursday in a parliamentary election marked by widespread economic frustration and controversy over the exclusion of candidates who have challenged the ruling government.

Close to 25 million eligible voters across Africa’s largest nation by land area are selecting from 1,235 candidates vying for 407 seats in the lower chamber of Parliament, each carrying a five-year term.

Officials are watching turnout closely after citizens largely stayed away from campaign events in the lead-up to the vote. To boost participation, the government designated Thursday a paid national holiday.

For many Algerians, the election takes a back seat to pressing daily concerns — including the rising cost of living, declining public services, and shrinking freedoms in the political, media, and labor sectors.

Adding to the distraction, many Algerians are fixated on the World Cup, where their national soccer team is set to face Switzerland in a knockout-round match early Friday.

The current pro-government majority controls roughly 300 seats in the outgoing Parliament, with the Islamist MSP party holding the second-largest bloc at 64 seats.

Some MSP candidates were among the 269 people barred from participating in the election. The banned group notably included former leaders and activists tied to the Hirak pro-democracy movement, which played a key role in ousting longtime autocratic President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019. Since then, freedoms have continued to erode under his successor, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who won reelection to a second term in 2024.

The country’s electoral authority said those disqualified were excluded due to alleged “links to illicit financial networks” and “suspicious political activities.”

Security personnel were deployed outside polling stations in the capital city of Algiers beginning Wednesday.

In Algeria’s southern regions and across the Sahara Desert, voting was moved up by 48 hours so that nomadic communities could participate. Ballot boxes were transported by off-road vehicles belonging to local administration and escorted by police in Land Rovers.

Among Algerians living abroad — approximately 854,225 registered voters, with the largest concentration in France — voting took place over the previous Saturday and Sunday at consular offices. State news agency APS reported strong turnout and a “family atmosphere” at those locations.

The government also rescheduled end-of-year school exams to free up classrooms and teachers, who typically serve as polling station workers in exchange for a daily stipend.

With campaign venues mostly empty, political parties and independent candidates shifted to informal outreach — holding small gatherings in streets, markets, and neighborhood cafes. A widely circulated video from last week showed the leader of one political party unsuccessfully attempting to persuade a young man to cast a ballot.

Despite the lackluster atmosphere, parties pressed forward with their messages. The presidential majority, spearheaded by the long-established FLN party, called for high voter participation to strengthen the country in the face of global geopolitical pressures.

The Trotskyist opposition Workers’ Party focused its campaign on raising pensions and wages and opposing a mining sector overhaul that it says favors foreign investors.

Meanwhile, the head of the Socialist Forces Front — considered the leading party of the democratic movement — urged the freeing of political prisoners and greater media freedom, arguing that boycotting the election would ultimately benefit the government rather than challenge it.

One thousand days have now passed since a Hamas-led assault on Israel set off the ongoing war in Gaza — a conflict that has reshaped the region, spawned additional fighting on multiple fronts, and left millions of lives in limbo.

The fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza remains deeply uncertain. Under the ceasefire that went into effect on October 10, Israeli forces already controlled more than half of the territory — and Israel’s government has since expanded that footprint, stating it intends to hold 70% of Gaza.

Movement in and out of the territory is severely restricted. Meanwhile, the next phases of the ceasefire agreement — including Hamas giving up its weapons and the enormous undertaking of rebuilding Gaza — have ground to a halt.

“Much more needs to be done so that even a semblance of normality can come back, and we are far, far away from this,” said Nicolas von Arx, the International Committee of the Red Cross regional director, in comments made this week.

Although Israeli airstrikes have decreased significantly since the ceasefire began, they have continued nearly every day. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 1,053 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, as of Tuesday — a count that includes more than 350 women and children. Among the recent victims were a teenage girl who was on her way to school and a mother along with her one-year-old daughter.

One Palestinian woman, Wisal Abu Khater, expressed raw frustration following yet another deadly strike this week. “Where is this ceasefire they keep talking about?! Shame on them,” she said, directing her anger at Arab nations she accused of abandoning Gaza’s people while watching World Cup matches.

The United Nations issued a warning Wednesday that Israel’s territorial expansion in Gaza is putting civilians at greater risk of being killed in “areas lacking clear demarcation on the ground.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government and keeps detailed casualty records considered generally credible by U.N. agencies and independent analysts, reported more than 3,400 wounded since the ceasefire began. The ministry does not separate civilian deaths from militant deaths but notes that women and children account for roughly half of those killed. Israel’s military maintains that it targets Hamas fighters and other armed groups, often stating those individuals were preparing attacks, and charges Hamas with using civilians as cover.

The October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages being taken. All of those hostages — or their remains — have since been released or transferred, with some survivors describing mistreatment during their captivity. In total, Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 73,066 Palestinians as of Tuesday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The senior diplomat managing the ceasefire, Nickolay Mladenov, has been direct about the impasse: progress toward the next stages of the U.S.-brokered agreement has stalled over the contentious question of Hamas disarming.

This situation has become a significant test for the Board of Peace, an initiative created and led by U.S. President Donald Trump. Launched with considerable attention and billions of dollars in international funding commitments earlier this year with the specific goal of helping Gaza recover from war, the board has gone largely quiet in recent weeks.

Hamas disarming would unlock other steps in the process, including establishing new governance in Gaza and bringing in an international stabilization force to help with security and rebuilding. Hamas has not flatly refused to disarm, but has signaled it wants to retain some weapons and is seeking additional concessions from Israel.

For Israelis, the past 1,000 days have been marked by trauma stemming from the October 7 attack — the deadliest in Israel’s history — as well as fighting that spread to Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, to Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, and against Iran itself. Iran’s armed proxy forces had launched attacks on Israel, claiming solidarity with Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed U.S. President Trump on February 28 to join in striking Iran, a move that reignited the conflict in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have now pushed to their deepest position in more than 25 years.

None of those additional conflicts has fully quieted. The cumulative weight of these wars — including rising Israeli soldier casualties, continued attacks along the Lebanese border, and international accusations of genocide in Gaza that Israel disputes — is taking a toll on Israeli society as Netanyahu prepares to seek reelection this fall.

While Netanyahu has maintained a confident public posture, he faces serious political headwinds. A poll published last month by The Israel Democracy Institute found that more than 60% of Israelis believe he should not run again. Public anger remains elevated over the security lapses that allowed the October 7 attack to happen, the absence of a formal government inquiry into those failures, and controversial military service exemptions extended to Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.

Palestinians in Gaza describe themselves as pushed to their breaking point. Many are sheltering in sprawling tent camps with little or no basic services, or in the gutted remains of bombed buildings, all while living under the constant buzz of Israeli surveillance drones and the ever-present threat of strikes.

The ceasefire was supposed to allow a significant increase in humanitarian supplies, including medicine and fuel. Aid organizations and others say that surge has not materialized. All border crossings into Gaza remain tightly controlled and have closed entirely at various points. The United Nations reported last month that 17 hospitals are still not operational.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said last month that Israeli approval and customs procedures are “cumbersome” and are blocking essential supplies — noting that even prosthetic limbs have been held up over concerns they could potentially be used as weapons.

Famine was declared in Gaza City last August, though food security specialists later noted “notable improvements” following the ceasefire. The Israeli military body responsible for coordinating civilian matters in Gaza, COGAT, said Wednesday that “the quantities of food that are being brought in far exceed the nutritional needs of the Gazan civilian population.”

As Israeli forces push further into Gaza and Hamas militants face accusations of illegally executing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel or committing crimes such as looting, residents describe themselves as exhausted and under constant stress.

“We had everything before the war,” said Mahmoud Ashour, a 33-year-old shop owner in Khan Younis. “And now we’re just craving a bite to eat.”

A punishing heatwave that shattered temperature records across Europe last month has put a spotlight on a critical blind spot for a continent that has prided itself on its ambitious climate goals: being ready for the effects of global warming happening right now.

The European Union has long positioned itself as a global leader in fighting climate change, becoming one of the first major economies to enshrine a legally binding commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But when temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius — that’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit — in parts of Europe this June, it became clear that businesses, public services, and essential infrastructure across the continent were woefully unprepared to handle the real-world consequences of a warming climate.

Poland’s Deputy Climate Minister Krzysztof Bolesta was blunt in his assessment. “We’ve not been good enough on adaptation,” he told Reuters, speaking as power outages hit parts of the region, outdoor labor was prohibited in some areas, train service was halted in Germany, and a cargo train in Sweden derailed after extreme heat warped the metal rails beneath it.

Spain was among the hardest-hit nations, reporting 1,000 excess deaths attributed to the record temperatures.

Responsibility for making buildings and public spaces more heat-resistant falls largely on individual nations and regional governments rather than the EU itself. EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who plans to unveil an EU-wide “climate resilience plan” later this year, explained the reasoning to journalists: “There’s no point in trying to say from Brussels how the Greeks or the Spaniards need to battle wildfires. They know that much better than we do as the Dutch know much better how to build dikes.” He said the EU plan would center on shared scenarios and best practices.

Nevertheless, the EU’s own financial commitment to adaptation has remained modest. Official data shows that between 2021 and 2025, nearly three-quarters — 72% — of climate-related spending from the EU’s shared budget went toward mitigation, meaning efforts to reduce the greenhouse gases driving warming. Only 18% was directed at adaptation, with 9% addressing both areas. This is despite Europe warming faster than any other continent on Earth.

The EU does have an array of financial tools designed to cut emissions, including renewable energy subsidies and its Emissions Trading System, which places a ceiling on how much companies can pollute and allows cleaner businesses to sell their unused pollution permits for a profit. But Poland’s Bolesta noted that no comparable financial incentives exist to push businesses toward investing in adaptation.

“It’s easier to see the business case for mitigation, because you have the cap-and-trade system, you have carbon credits, you have renewables companies,” he said. “Adaptation, it’s mostly regarded as a cost with very long-term benefits, so delayed gratification, but also sometimes just an insurance policy — it might or it might not kick in.”

The economic toll is becoming impossible to ignore. Dutch bank ING reported this week that climate-driven extremes such as heatwaves, drought, and flooding shaved 0.3 percentage points off Europe’s already sluggish economic output last year. “The uncomfortable truth is that heatwaves have quietly graduated from ‘weather event’ to ‘macro variable,’” ING wrote, adding: “The thermometer, it turns out, has become a leading indicator.”

The economic damage takes many forms — from lost tourism and farming income in southern countries to reduced worker productivity in office buildings not built for hot weather. Germany offers a striking example: official estimates put the cost of a single day above 30 degrees Celsius at €430 million — roughly $465 million — in lost productivity. Yet only about half of German office buildings have air conditioning, compared with 90 to 95 percent in southern Europe, according to the Federal Environment Agency.

“For decades, we built against cold and not against heat and that’s an adaptation gap,” said Geraldine Dany-Knedlik of the German Institute for Economic Research DIW.

Irene Seemann, who leads climate adaptation efforts for businesses in the large German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said attitudes are beginning to shift. “To use a football analogy, Germany has been one-nil down because heat has not been much of an issue,” she said. “Now companies see that it has a direct impact on their operations.”

Some solutions are surprisingly straightforward and affordable. A German flooring company called Project Floors, whose historic glass-domed headquarters in Cologne is protected by heritage laws that prevent structural changes, applied reflective film to its windows and cut indoor temperatures by 10 degrees Celsius. “It was simple, effective, and required no power,” said managing director Bernd Greve.

Other fixes demand deeper changes — rescheduling work shifts to cooler parts of the day, redesigning public transit systems, and rethinking how urban spaces are built and used.

Progress has been made since the devastating 2003 heatwave, when peer-reviewed research found approximately 70,000 excess deaths occurred across Europe over that summer. The World Health Organization estimated this week that heat-related deaths in Europe would have been around 80% higher today without the adaptation steps already taken — including heat-health action plans, early warning systems, cooling centers, and targeted outreach to vulnerable populations.

“They are saving lives right now,” said the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge. “We need more of them, across all of the European region.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a recount of events from June 6, 1989, when millions of Iranians gathered to mourn Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the driving force behind the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The situation spiraled out of control almost immediately. As Iran now prepares to lay Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest, The Associated Press has released its original reporting and historic photographs from Khomeini’s funeral.

Mourners packed the sweltering streets of Tehran, rhythmically striking their heads and chests in grief, while the cries of women pierced through the deafening noise of the crowd. The scene turned dangerous when the massive throng surged toward the casket, causing the 86-year-old cleric’s white-shrouded body to spill out into the sea of people.

Early reports indicated the mayhem left at least eight people dead and approximately 11,000 others injured. Guinness World Records would later recognize the event as the largest share of any nation’s population ever to attend a funeral — an estimated 10.2 million people, representing roughly one-sixth of Iran’s entire population at the time.

By ALEX EFTY — TEHRAN, Iran (AP)

Countless mourners beating on their own heads and chests brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s funeral procession to a complete standstill, with scores of people — including Khomeini’s own son — being crushed in the overwhelming chaos.

The relentless crowd left authorities with no choice but to postpone the burial entirely.

The full toll of casualties — whether killed, injured, or simply overcome by the 91-degree heat — was not immediately known. At least eight people had already died and hundreds more were hurt the previous day, Monday, during a similarly massive outpouring of grief.

Security forces discharged weapons into the air in an attempt to push the crowds back, but the grieving masses refused to disperse, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Members of the Revolutionary Guards physically struck mourners on their hands to force them to release their grip on Khomeini’s coffin.

Khomeini’s only son, Ahmad, 43, was knocked to the ground in the dusty north Tehran square outside the Mosalla Mosque, where Khomeini’s body had been lying in state since Monday inside an air-conditioned, glass-enclosed bier. Ahmad Khomeini’s white turban fell from his head as he was lifted above the crowd and passed from person to person until he reached an ambulance waiting at the edge of the square. He appeared pale and sluggish, but remained conscious.

The hearse transporting the body became stranded in a vast ocean of black-clad mourners, completely unable to advance, IRNA reported.

Tehran television declared it was “impossible” to push through the grieving masses and complete the burial before sundown. Islamic tradition prohibits burying the dead after nightfall.

Khomeini had died the previous Saturday at the age of 86.

He was to have been laid to rest at the Baheshte Zahra cemetery, located 22 miles south of Tehran, alongside those who died during the Islamic revolution that brought him to power a decade earlier, as well as thousands who perished in the Iran-Iraq war.

Television broadcasters said alternative plans for the burial would be announced at a later time.

Cries of “Allah Akbar!” — God is Great — rang out across the city. Two hours into the procession, the hearse had barely traveled half a mile.

Many of Tehran’s 6 million residents came out to say their final farewell to Khomeini, while millions more traveled into the city from surrounding regions, according to official state media.

The procession got underway at 7 a.m., when Khomeini’s devoted Revolutionary Guards lifted his body down from the bier.

Five helicopters circled overhead as a military band performed solemn music below.

Khomeini’s body, draped in the Islamic republic’s flag, was placed on the ground in the open air while the white-bearded Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani led prayers. Golpaygani, one of only four senior ayatollahs remaining in Iran, frequently paused to compose himself, lifting his glasses to dry his eyes with a handkerchief.

Following the 30-minute ceremony, Khomeini’s body was placed inside a wooden coffin covered with a white cloth, then carried by the Revolutionary Guards from hand to hand into a white van.

The crowds wept uncontrollably. Recitations from the Koran blared from the mosque’s minaret as the masses cried out, “Farewell beloved imam!” and “Oh Khomeini, why have you left us?”

They struck their heads and chests with closed fists in the traditional Shiite Muslim expression of mourning.

Amid the disorder, women dressed head to toe in black chadors found themselves pressed against men — a breach of the Islamic prohibition on physical contact between women and men outside of marriage.

Firefighters turned their hoses on the crowd in an effort to cool people down.

Roughly 2 million frenzied mourners had maintained an all-night candlelit vigil around the bier.

Some in the crowd scratched their own faces until they bled and threw ashes over their clothing.

Khomeini had died of a heart attack 11 days after undergoing intestinal surgery, leaving the question of his successor unresolved. He left behind a 29-page political testament, excerpts of which were read on Tehran radio the previous Monday.

The portions made public contained no guidance on how Iran should be governed following his death, though such instructions may have been contained in sections not yet released.

President Ali Khamenei, 49, had been named caretaker leader on Sunday. A presidential election and a referendum on constitutional changes — which were expected to expand the president’s executive authority — were scheduled for August 18.

Khamenei’s rapid appointment was seen primarily as a move to fill the power vacuum created by political instability that had been building since February, when Khomeini called for the death of British novelist Salman Rushdie.

With no single figure capable of matching Khomeini’s combined religious and political stature, analysts believed Iran would likely be governed by a collective leadership going forward.

Khamenei had thrown his support behind Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani, 55, a political ally and the only announced presidential candidate at the time.

Former Iranian President Abolhassen Bani-Sadr, speaking from exile in France, said Khamenei’s appointment represented a “total failure” by the government.

“Imagine a church that cannot find a pope. It is exactly the same, like a dynasty that cannot find a king. … It will not last,” he said.

ROME (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s sharp attacks on Italy’s prime minister have produced a result he likely did not intend.

After Trump questioned whether Italy could be counted on as a wartime ally and claimed that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had groveled for his attention, European leaders rushed to her defense. In doing so, they began warming up a relationship that had previously been cold due to Meloni’s far-right political background.

This is just the latest sign of how the frequently polarizing American president is inadvertently pushing European nations toward greater unity.

Across the continent, leaders are finding more common ground on issues like defense spending, trade tariffs, and foreign policy as they deal with wars in Ukraine and Iran, a growing trade gap with China, and ongoing threats from Russia. Analysts say this trend leaves Trump — who has typically preferred to deal with European countries one at a time — with less room to do so.

“Most of the mainstream leaders realize that Europe is getting squeezed between China and America, and so, if not now, then when?” said Sudha David-Wilp, vice president at the German Marshall Fund. “They need to act as a bloc in order to maintain Europe’s place in the world.”

This growing sense of European solidarity faces a significant test next week when NATO leaders gather for a summit in Turkey.

Meloni’s public clash with Trump has actually helped her build stronger relationships with European leaders who once viewed her party’s post-fascist history with suspicion.

A turning point came in March when Meloni refused to allow U.S. bombers heading to the Middle East to use a military base in Sicily without first getting approval from Italy’s parliament.

For years before that, France and Germany often left Meloni out of the smaller, informal talks that helped shape Europe’s approach to major international crises. That exclusion continued into 2026, fueled in part by disagreements over how to handle Russia’s war on Ukraine — including Meloni’s opposition to a British and French proposal to send European troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

But Trump’s increasingly harsh words toward Meloni — who had already called his criticism of Pope Leo “unacceptable” — changed the atmosphere. European leaders began rallying around her, in part because they, too, have been targets of Trump’s criticism.

By late June, Meloni was firmly included in a Berlin meeting with the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, and Poland. The following day, she sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron in southern France for the first bilateral summit between the two countries since the pandemic.

Even far-right and nationalist parties across Europe that once embraced Trump’s political brand are now stepping back. His trade policies and the war with Iran have proven unpopular with voters, forcing a recalibration.

In France, far-right leader Jordan Bardella recently condemned U.S. actions as “foreign interference” and described Trump as “erratic” and “extremely unsteady.” That’s a sharp reversal from Bardella’s earlier praise of Trump’s nationalism as a “wind of freedom.”

In Germany, top figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany party have spoken out against the U.S. military campaign in Iran. The party’s co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, said in March that he was “extremely disappointed” with Trump, a politician he had believed would steer clear of new military conflicts.

This shift in tone is happening as elections draw closer in several countries, putting more emphasis on issues closer to home.

“This pushes everyone to consider a European horizon more than an international one,” said Lorenzo Castellani, a political analyst and professor at Rome’s LUISS University.

These forces are reshaping politics well beyond the European Union’s borders, stretching from the Arctic to the Balkans.

When Trump threatened to seize Greenland by force, protests broke out both in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk and in Copenhagen, Denmark. Leaders from across the political spectrum reacted with alarm at the perceived threat to European sovereignty and worried it could fracture the already strained NATO alliance.

In Albania, a luxury development project tied to Trump’s family business has become a flashpoint in domestic politics, sparking protests in June.

Perhaps nowhere was the political danger of aligning too closely with Trump more clearly demonstrated than in Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — long considered Trump’s most loyal supporter within the European Union — was voted out of office in April, despite receiving backing from Trump himself and prominent figures in the MAGA movement.

An analysis by the consultancy Maplecroft suggested that negative views of the Trump administration may have contributed to Orbán’s political downfall.

While Meloni remains in step with Trump on issues such as immigration and security, she has long disagreed with him on Ukraine. Her consistent support for Kyiv has helped repair and strengthen Italy’s relationships with European partners, making it a central element of the continent’s increasingly unified stance toward Washington.

During their very public dispute last month, Meloni acknowledged that her friendship with Trump had come at a significant political cost.

Responding to Trump’s claim that she had “begged” to be photographed with him at the recent G7 summit in France, Meloni wrote on social media: “As for my popularity, being your friend has certainly not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you.”

A recent Pew Research Center survey confirmed that Trump is deeply unpopular in Italy. The poll found that 83% of Italians have no confidence in Trump’s ability to make sound decisions on international affairs. His handling of issues including Iran, tariffs, and U.S. immigration policy all received low marks.

With a national election required by 2027 — and possibly coming as soon as next spring — Meloni is under growing political pressure from multiple directions, including public backlash over the Iran war and her past closeness with Trump.

Voters across Europe may ultimately hold their own leaders responsible for the consequences of decisions made in Washington, noted Castellani.

“At a certain point, when voters see the price of gasoline rising because of a war perceived as distant, they ask Meloni for the bill, not Trump.”

A newly released report funded by the European Union is painting a grim picture for the continent’s computer chip industry, warning that pressures from both China and the United States are pushing the sector toward a difficult road ahead.

The independent study, produced by the EU’s Institute for Security Studies and French think-tank Institut Montaigne, was released Thursday. It concluded that Chinese export controls on critical minerals and magnets — along with the threat of armed conflict in the Taiwan Strait — represent serious dangers to the semiconductor supply chain.

The report also flagged Europe’s heavy dependence on the United States for key technology, including chip design software. Adding to that concern is the possibility that Washington could force ASML, Europe’s most valuable company and a major chipmaking equipment supplier, to halt exports to China.

That scenario is not far-fetched. The U.S. Congress is currently debating legislation that would give Washington the authority to unilaterally impose export restrictions on allied countries and their companies.

“While Beijing still appears to be the biggest threat, dependence on Washington seems to have become of much greater concern under the second Trump administration,” said Joris Teer, a policy analyst at the Institute for Security Studies and co-author of the report.

In response to these challenges, the European Commission has been working to strengthen the bloc’s chip industry. In June, it put forward a Chips Act 2.0 proposal that EU lawmakers are now tasked with reviewing. The proposal includes incentives to boost demand for chips made within Europe and also aligns the EU with Washington’s “Pax Silica” initiative, a cooperative effort among allied nations to secure semiconductor supply chains.

Teer said that beyond working with allies to counter China, Europe’s “only viable path” is to capitalize on areas where it already holds strength — such as the chipmaking equipment sector anchored by ASML — to improve its negotiating leverage.

The report drew from industry, political, and academic sources and also pointed to additional factors dragging down Europe’s competitiveness, including persistently high energy costs, a shortage of private investment capital, and a decline in the industries that rely on chips.

KYIV, Ukraine — A massive Russian assault using missiles and drones hammered Ukraine’s capital overnight into Thursday, with powerful explosions rattling the entire city of Kyiv for hours.

The strikes left one person dead and wounded numerous others, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that at least 11 people were injured in the attacks, which also caused damage to residential buildings throughout the city.

The assault — carried out with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones — hit all 10 of Kyiv’s districts, spanning both banks of the Dnipro River. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials issued early warnings about the incoming attack, many residents sought safety inside metro stations.

Klitschko urged the public to stay in shelters, calling it a relentless “furious enemy attack” on the capital. He reported that five people were hurt in the Shevchenkivskyi district, including one paramedic who was left in extremely critical condition.

In the Desnianskyi district, residents became trapped inside a damaged nine-story apartment building, prompting rescue crews to rush to the scene. A fire ignited on the roof of a multistory building in the Holosiivskyi district, while blazes and debris trapping people were also reported in the Sviatoshynskyi and Darnytskyi districts.

Tkachenko said the attack partially destroyed a residential structure in the Desnianskyi district and sparked fires near homes in two locations within the Pecherskyi district, as well as near an administrative building in the Solomianskyi district. Additional damage was recorded in the Obolonskyi and Podilskyi districts as well.

The assault comes amid a period of escalating Russian strikes on Kyiv in recent weeks, even as Ukraine has continued its own long-range drone campaign targeting Russian military installations and energy infrastructure — a campaign that has triggered fuel shortages and disrupted supply lines inside Russia.

Authorities in Greece ordered residents of two villages in the central part of the country to leave their homes Wednesday as a massive wildfire raged through the area — coming just one day after a forest fire in northern Greece claimed the lives of a father and his 12-year-old son.

Firefighters confirmed Wednesday that a body discovered inside a home destroyed by the previous day’s blaze was that of the young boy. His father had already been found dead Tuesday outside the same property, which was located in a wooded area northeast of the northern city of Thessaloniki. The children’s mother survived the fire but sustained burns and is currently receiving hospital treatment.

The Wednesday wildfire was tearing through both forested land and farmland in the central Greek region of Fthiotida, according to the fire department. A massive response was mounted, including 19 water-dropping planes, six helicopters, and 135 firefighters working alongside volunteers and specialized forest fire units.

Three additional wildfires ignited across Greece on Wednesday — one in the northern region of Halkidiki, another on the island of Salamina near the nation’s capital, and a third in the country’s south. Fire officials said all three were brought under control quickly.

Greece regularly contends with wildfires during its hot, dry summer months, though the country has so far avoided the intense heatwaves that have gripped much of western Europe in recent weeks.

The nation has a painful history with such disasters. In 2018, a fire east of Athens killed more than 100 people. In 2023, a massive blaze that swept through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece became the largest wildfire ever documented in the European Union.

In response to the growing threat — worsened by climate change — Greece has been ramping up its use of technology. The country is now integrating a dedicated group of four satellites, launched into low orbit this past May, that will be used to detect and monitor wildfires.

Viewed from above, more than 3 million solar panels arranged in the shape of a galloping horse shimmer across the desert landscape at the Dalad Banner solar farm — a nod to Inner Mongolia’s nomadic roots. Just a short distance away, one of the region’s numerous coal-fired power plants hums along, sending electricity 700 kilometers, or about 435 miles, to Beijing.

That striking contrast captures what energy experts describe as an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to power in Inner Mongolia, which has emerged as China’s top producer of both renewable energy and coal. The region’s energy path reflects the broader situation across China: wind and solar are growing at a rapid pace, but coal remains a cornerstone of the country’s power supply.

China has been adding wind and solar capacity faster than any other nation on Earth. Even so, coal-fired plants still accounted for roughly 51% of China’s electricity generation in 2025, according to the most recent figures from the National Energy Administration.

Energy consultant David Fishman of The Lantau Group, who has personally toured Inner Mongolia’s coal plants and solar installations, put it plainly: “While China as a whole is transitioning away from coal, Inner Mongolia is most certainly the most paradoxical part of the story. In Inner Mongolia’s case, more renewables often means more coal capacity as well.”

Regional officials say they want wind and solar to gradually take over electricity duties currently handled by coal, while also keeping up with the country’s surging power needs. For now, however, both coal and renewables will keep growing — coal is still needed to step in when clouds block the sun or the wind dies down.

Gu Qing, an official with Inner Mongolia’s energy administration, addressed the apparent contradiction while standing at the edge of the Dalad Banner solar farm. “Many people see there is a conflict or a competitive relationship between traditional energy and renewable energy,” he said. “As more renewable energy capacity is added, coal-fired power will also continue to grow, although the pace will gradually slow.”

Associated Press reporters visited the Dalad Banner solar farm on a recent government-organized tour. The facility currently produces around 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year and is part of a larger clean energy initiative launched in 2018 in northern China’s Kubuqi Desert.

Inner Mongolia plays a central role in China’s West-to-East Power Transmission Project, which moves electricity from resource-rich western regions to the industrialized east. In 2025, about 40% of Inner Mongolia’s electricity output — roughly 350 billion kilowatt-hours — was shipped to other parts of the country, enough to power 120 million households for an entire year.

Over the past five years, solar and wind capacity in Inner Mongolia has more than doubled, yet coal still dominates actual electricity production. Coal plants generated approximately 590 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025, compared to about 277 billion kilowatt-hours combined from solar and wind. Coal power capacity in the region has continued to expand throughout that same period.

Huang Zhiqiang, vice governor of Inner Mongolia, explained the ongoing dependence at a recent news briefing: “Because wind and solar are intermittent…we cannot do without the support of coal-fired power.” He added that the role of coal is shifting: “What is changing is that coal power units are turning from supply-guarantee units to serving as a supporting and regulating role.”

Inner Mongolia has mined roughly 1.2 billion tons of coal in recent years, making up about one quarter of China’s total coal output. More than 60% of that coal is transported to other provinces. Ordos, the city that oversees the Dalad Banner area, is also one of five major coal-producing centers designated by China’s central government.

Officials say coal plants are being retooled to ramp down when renewable energy is plentiful and ramp back up when it isn’t. Huang said all coal power units in the region have been refurbished to operate at as low as 15% of their capacity, reducing coal consumption during periods of high renewable output.

However, Fishman cautioned that operating at 15% capacity is “an aspirational or best-unit capability rather than something that applies across the whole fleet in day-to-day operations,” noting that doing so creates both technical and financial strain.

Anika Patel, China section editor at the climate change research organization Carbon Brief, echoed that concern: “Just because a plant can operate flexibly doesn’t mean that it is operating flexibly.” She said economic and political incentives tied to coal make it difficult to truly push the fuel into a backup role. She also pointed out that long-term power contracts in China limit how much flexibility the grid has to buy renewable electricity, and that lengthy trading agreements between provinces make it harder to incorporate solar and wind power.

The government says Inner Mongolia is not only expanding renewables to meet rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence computing, electric vehicle charging, and manufacturing — it is also investing in energy storage, transmission upgrades, and other grid improvements. Gu said the region plans to encourage factories to shift their production schedules to better align with times when wind and solar generation is highest, making renewable energy use more efficient.

For more than a decade beginning in the early 2010s, China saw a surge in solar and wind development driven largely by government targets and financial incentives, which eventually led to problems including overcapacity.

Coal’s role in Inner Mongolia goes beyond power generation. The region is also a major center for coal chemical industries, where coal is converted into chemicals or fuels used to make other products — a process that releases more carbon dioxide than burning coal for electricity. Huang said Inner Mongolia plans to deploy carbon-capture technology to reduce those emissions.

He also said the region is expanding its coal-to-oil, coal-to-gas, and coal chemical production capacity. Citing the Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as examples of how global energy supply chains can be disrupted, Huang argued that domestic coal conversion offers China a buffer against reliance on imported energy. “At the industrial level, this can help offset and ease China’s reliance on imported oil and gas, reducing dependence on overseas supplies,” he said.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Gabriel García Luna, who stepped into the role of Guatemala’s attorney general in May, announced Wednesday his intention to dismantle what he characterized as the “repressive and vengeful” legacy left by his predecessor — a figure who faced sanctions from multiple nations, including the United States, for undermining anti-corruption work.

Guatemala had previously been considered a reliable U.S. partner in fighting corruption throughout the region. That changed under Consuelo Porras, whose tenure saw corruption investigations suppressed, justice officials and journalists targeted, and many individuals forced to flee the country. Porras also made attempts to block President Bernardo Arévalo from taking office and sought to invalidate his presidency through unproven fraud claims.

“Everyone has a concept of a Public Prosecutor’s Office that can be used in a certain way, and we can no longer have that,” García Luna told The Associated Press. “It is not a political entity, nor a political weapon for anyone, and I do not intend to repeat the actions taken in previous administrations.”

García Luna has already taken steps to steer the institution in a new direction, breaking up the network of loyalists that Porras had placed in administrative and prosecutorial roles — individuals accused of using the office to criminalize and persecute former justice officials. He has also established a commission to examine cases involving people who were allegedly targeted.

Porras has rejected the accusations leveled against her. While she led the Public Prosecutor’s Office, it issued statements arguing that the allegations infringed upon her “right to honor, dignity, reputation and the presumption of innocence.”

During Wednesday’s remarks, García Luna outlined his commitment to sweeping reform, including a review of potential abuses that occurred under the previous administration and efforts to rebuild a prosecutorial profession that suffered greatly from the mass departure of experienced staff during Porras’ time in office.

García Luna said his predecessor “formed a parallel government that destroyed the prosecutorial profession, mainly by dismissing between 800 and 1,000 employees during her eight-year tenure.”

The new attorney general did not close the door on potential legal action against Porras, who faces several complaints including one related to human trafficking in irregular adoptions, as well as against her associates.

In instances where the prosecutor’s office — acting under Porras’ direction — allowed alleged corrupt officials, drug traffickers, and others accused of crimes to go free, García Luna stated those cases are being revisited, reopened, and that legal steps will be taken to prevent impunity.

Former prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval, who now lives in exile after accusing Porras of persecuting him for his work on major corruption cases, is among those calling for accountability. He and others argue the allegations against Porras and her associates must be handled through an “impartial and independent” process.

“These should not go unresolved, in accordance with the principle of equality before the law and the principle that no one should be above the law,” Sandoval said.

García Luna has received backing from the U.S. government and European Union member nations, which have pledged support in the fight against transnational crime, including drug and human trafficking. He also noted that the Attorney General’s Office is working alongside the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which has set an August 4 hearing to review cases involving individuals who reported political persecution under Porras.

Russian military forces unleashed a drone assault on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv late Wednesday night, sparking a blaze at a hotel located on a prominent central boulevard and leaving wreckage strewn across two separate districts of the city.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko took to Telegram to report that the roof of a hotel on Shevchenko Boulevard had caught fire. Images circulating online showed flames burning out of control at the top of the structure.

The mayor confirmed that emergency response teams had been sent to the scene to address the situation.

At least one witness reported hearing explosions in the western parts of the city, adding to the widespread alarm among residents.

Mayor Klitschko also noted that drone fragments had come down both in the city center and in a northeastern suburb of Kyiv.

Additional footage shared on unofficial Telegram channels captured residents flooding into underground metro stations seeking shelter from the attack.

Earlier in the evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had issued a warning that intelligence information pointed to a likely overnight strike on the country. He announced he was ending his visit to Dublin ahead of schedule in response to the threat.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Wearing white coats and marching in formation, dozens of Haitian medical students took to the streets Wednesday to pressure the government into relocating and reopening one of the nation’s largest public hospitals — a facility they say is essential to completing their training as future doctors.

The students set out peacefully from their university’s downtown Port-au-Prince campus and made their way toward the outskirts of the prime minister’s office, where anti-riot police formed a barrier to stop their advance.

An Associated Press journalist on the scene witnessed a uniformed officer fire his weapon into the air from inside a vehicle in an apparent attempt to break up the crowd. As he brought the gun down, it discharged a second time, striking a student in the arm.

The students responded by hurling rocks at the officer’s vehicle, shattering multiple windows, while shouting, “We are not armed!”

Esdras Paul, president of the faculty of medicine council, described the police response as unacceptable. “Not only did the police use tear gas on us, the police fired live bullets at us,” he said. “We have students who are actual victims who are being cared for. We condemn this because we are holding peaceful demonstrations.”

The University Hospital of Haiti — more widely referred to as the General Hospital — was shut down in 2024 after gang violence made it impossible to operate. The government attempted to bring the hospital back online on Christmas Eve of that year, but the effort ended in tragedy when suspected gang members opened fire at the scene, killing two journalists and wounding seven more. A police officer also lost his life in the attack.

Johnson “Izo” André, widely regarded as Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and a key figure in the Viv Ansanm gang coalition — which is believed to control roughly 70% of Port-au-Prince — took credit for the assault. In a social media video posted around that time, he stated that the coalition had not given its approval for the hospital to reopen.

Shortly after the attack, the government removed the country’s health minister from office. The hospital has not reopened since.

Medical student Jean Pierre said the country’s top leader must understand what is at stake. “The prime minister needs to hear that the work we do is for the people in Haiti,” he said.

In February 2025, gangs set fire to the General Hospital, further damaging the already shuttered facility. Its prolonged closure has put enormous pressure on the few remaining health institutions still operating in the country. An estimated 70% of public health facilities were closed last year due to gang activity, leaving approximately 4.4 million people without access to medical care.

This was not the first time students have taken a stand — they also marched peacefully the previous week over the same issue, with police responding by deploying tear gas to end that demonstration as well.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department took action Wednesday, officially labeling the Ecuadorean gang known as Chone Killers a Foreign Terrorist Organization and imposing sanctions against the group for what officials described as a pattern of violent attacks.

In addition to the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the gang was also classified as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

“Chone Killers … has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in an official statement.

The designation is part of a wider effort during President Donald Trump’s second term to confront gang activity across the Americas. The administration has moved to label several groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and has carried out a series of strikes targeting suspected drug trafficking vessels off the coast of Venezuela and along the Pacific coast of Latin America.

Rubio also addressed the partnership with Ecuador in combating narcoterrorism, saying, “The Trump Administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists.”

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A government spokesperson in Ivory Coast confirmed Wednesday that flooding has taken the lives of at least 59 people in the country this year.

Following a Cabinet meeting, spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly addressed reporters, stating that “the council deplores the particularly high death toll of 59 this year.”

The latest disaster struck Monday, when a combination of floods and landslides — triggered by several days of heavy rainfall — hit the capital cities of both Ivory Coast and Ghana, killing at least 24 people and leaving others unaccounted for.

Coulibaly did not provide a breakdown of how many deaths were specifically tied to the most recent flooding event in Ivory Coast.

In Ghana’s capital, Accra, entire buildings and roads were swallowed by floodwaters on Monday, cutting off multiple neighborhoods in the city as well as the nearby city of Tema.

Within Ivory Coast, the sustained rainfall caused flooding that killed more than a dozen people, with the majority of victims located in the Abidjan municipalities of Attécoubé and Yopougon, according to the Minister of National Cohesion Myss Belmonde Dogo.

Coulibaly called on residents to heed government safety guidelines and evacuate any zones that authorities have identified as high-risk.

Fatal flooding is a recurring problem across parts of Africa. The World Meteorological Organization notes that Africa is one of the regions most exposed to extreme weather events globally, even though the continent accounts for only a small share of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

MEXICO CITY — A man clad entirely in bright orange carefully loads a stack of cardboard boxes onto a luggage cart at Mexico City’s international airport. He’s not just another traveler, and the contents of those boxes are far from ordinary.

Inside them are body bags.

The man is Germán Bello, a 39-year-old volunteer with the Brigada Internacional de Rescate Topos Azteca — one of Mexico’s most well-known civilian search-and-rescue organizations. The nonprofit group was born out of the catastrophic 1985 Mexico City earthquake and has since built a global reputation by responding to major disasters both at home and overseas.

On Tuesday night, Bello was on his way to one of Venezuela’s worst natural disasters in recent memory. Nearly a week after two strong earthquakes tore through the country’s Caribbean coastline, officials announced Wednesday that more than 2,200 people have lost their lives and upward of 11,000 others have been hurt.

International rescue teams are still combing through the wreckage of collapsed apartment buildings and homes in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira. But as the days pass, hope of finding survivors continues to dim, and the focus is gradually shifting from rescue to recovery.

Bello has no idea when he’ll be back home. In addition to rescue equipment, he packed body bags and other supplies that may be needed to recover victims of the earthquakes.

By profession, Bello is an electrical engineer who runs a small auto repair shop. Within the brigade, he goes by the nickname “La Secre” — short for secretary — because he serves as the right-hand man to the group’s founder, veteran rescuer Héctor “El Chino” Méndez.

Méndez, now 80 years old, helped organize grassroots civilian rescue operations following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and has guided Topos missions across the globe for four decades. He was already on the ground in La Guaira, working to locate any survivors who might still be trapped under the rubble.

“The hardest part is telling someone that their loved one has died,” Bello said.

Fellow volunteers say that once they arrive in a disaster zone, keeping emotions under control is essential — because staying focused can be the difference between saving a life and losing one.

“There is no hunger, no heat, no sleep,” said volunteer Merry Valencia, who has been with the brigade for 14 years, reciting part of the group’s code of conduct. “There is no fear.”

Once rescuers evaluate the stability of a collapsed structure, they divide into small teams and take on different sections of the debris field. They squeeze through tight gaps and hollow spaces inside flattened buildings — a technique that earned the group its name, “Topos,” which means moles in Spanish. Thermal cameras and other specialized tools are frequently used to detect any signs of life.

Equipped with shovels, hand hammers, and various other tools, the rescuers chip away at rubble piece by piece, carefully working to avoid setting off further collapses.

“We are rescue workers from Mexico. If anyone is alive, make some noise or call out now!” a Mexican Army rescuer shouted on Saturday while searching the ruins of a collapsed building in La Guaira.

Seconds later, he raised a clenched fist into the air.

That gesture is a command for total silence — a search technique that originated during the 1985 Mexico City earthquake and was later formalized by the Topos. Variations of the method are now standard practice for rescue teams around the world.

The signal ripples instantly through the disaster zone. Rescue workers, soldiers, volunteers, and journalists all go quiet. For a brief but tense stretch of time, silence is the only sound.

Rescuers then listen with intense focus for any trace of life — using sensitive microphones, telescopic cameras, or simply pressing an ear to the rubble, hoping to catch a voice, a knock, or even the slightest movement.

Back at the Mexico City airport, a young man wearing glasses spotted Bello and approached after learning he was bound for Venezuela. He asked if Bello and his colleague were part of the rescue mission.

When Bello confirmed they were, the man broke down in tears.

“Thank you for going. My family is in Caracas,” said Venezuelan engineer Diego Bejarano.

Bello pulled him into a tight embrace. It would likely be the first of many such moments in the days ahead, as he joins other international teams working in Venezuela’s disaster zone.

After Bejarano walked away, Bello wiped the tears from his own eyes and explained what keeps driving him to volunteer for missions like this one.

“That’s my reward,” he said. “Being able to give someone a little hope.”

The European Union has committed up to €200 million — roughly $228 million — in grant funding aimed at improving transport, energy, and digital infrastructure across the South Caucasus, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Wednesday during a trip to Baku.

Von der Leyen met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev alongside EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. She described the funding package as a way to reinforce peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia by improving regional connections and directing aid to communities on the ground.

The two neighboring countries spent nearly four decades in conflict over the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. That dispute came to an end last August when the two sides reached a peace agreement brokered by the United States, following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.

Von der Leyen framed the effort as a bridge between diplomatic progress and real-world results. “Our ‘Peace through Connectivity Package’ will help build a peaceful and prosperous future for the South Caucasus,” she said. “Together, we can turn peace on paper into peace in practice.”

Beyond the main funding commitment, the European Commission announced an additional €20 million earmarked for a program supporting communities in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. That money would go toward healthcare, land mine removal, job skills training, and assistance for local businesses.

Officials in Monaco announced Wednesday that a foreign national was taken into custody and later let go as investigators press forward “very actively” in their probe of a powerful explosion that left three people injured, including a Ukrainian billionaire with reported ties to Russia.

According to a statement from the tiny Mediterranean nation’s prosecutor general, the individual was detained in Monaco during the morning hours. Authorities held the person while “further checks were deemed necessary” before ultimately releasing them in the afternoon. No additional details were provided about the individual or what drew investigators’ attention to them.

The explosion took place late Monday at the entrance to an apartment building in Monaco. Authorities have not officially named any of the victims, but said the three appear to have been deliberately targeted and are believed to be a family unit.

News reports have identified one of the injured as Ukrainian construction magnate Vadym Yermolaiev. Yermolaiev has stated that he gave up his Ukrainian citizenship roughly a decade ago, and he was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 due to his reported connections to Russia. A woman and a child were also hurt in the blast.

Prosecutors said the child has already been interviewed by authorities across the border in France, while the other two victims remain too seriously injured to be questioned. One of the adults is in critical condition and continues to fight for their life, officials said.

Investigators are classifying the incident as an attempted assassination. French authorities have been called in to assist with the investigation, and work is ongoing to analyze the explosive device and determine who carried out the attack, the statement said. The motive and the identity of those responsible remain unknown.

The attack has drawn attention to Russia’s well-documented history of targeting perceived enemies on foreign soil. Western intelligence agencies have recently noted an increase in such targeted killings since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is also believed to have carried out targeted strikes against Russian figures, though those operations have generally taken place within Ukrainian or Russian borders.

The explosion sent shockwaves through Monaco, one of the world’s smallest countries and a place known for its extraordinary concentration of wealthy residents along the Mediterranean coast. Monaco’s Prince Albert II condemned the attack, calling it “an odious act” and confirming that all public services had been put on alert to maintain security.

NATO is preparing to make a significant announcement at next week’s summit in Ankara: European member nations have stepped up to cover nearly every defense gap left behind by the United States within the alliance’s military planning framework, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The source, who spoke with Reuters on Wednesday but requested anonymity, said the one area where NATO continues to struggle is in the category of strategic bombers. The U.S. has indicated it will make just one such aircraft available to the alliance, falling short of the two that had been expected.

The announcement is expected to come at the Ankara summit scheduled for next week.

LONDON (AP) — The word “ceasefire” seems simple enough: both sides stop shooting, diplomats get to work, and civilians finally get some breathing room. But that straightforward definition is being put to the test across the Middle East, where conflict has continued well after ceasefire agreements were declared — and after President Donald Trump announced victory.

Israel has been conducting strikes on Gaza on a near-daily basis. The arrangement in Lebanon is a ceasefire in name only. And diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Iran are still in early stages, with negotiators meeting in Qatar this week under a 60-day deadline — far from any lasting peace agreement. People living in the region, along with analysts and journalists, are pushing back against describing the current situation as a ceasefire at all.

The periodic closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing shooting, they note, have never truly stopped.

“There is no ceasefire between the United States and Iran,” said Fawaz A. Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Iran has zero trust in the Trump administration, so they are making the U.S. fulfill its obligations step by step. This tells me we are living in a new era where the ceasefire no longer really means what it used to.”

Ceasefires have existed almost as long as warfare itself — a long-established method of formally pausing hostilities. Also called a truce, the concept is generally understood as a bridge between war and peace, during which warring parties agree to hold off on fighting while diplomats negotiate. Beyond that basic framework, a truce means whatever the parties at the table are willing to accept, as long as neither side walks away. Violations are frequent and are often used strategically, establishing an unspoken threshold for lower-level conflict that won’t derail the broader talks. The intent is to allow room for accidents or misunderstandings that the parties agree shouldn’t blow up the negotiations.

Some ceasefires have effectively functioned as long-term peace arrangements even without a formal treaty. A prime example is the Korean Armistice Agreement, which halted the Korean War on July 27, 1953. No peace treaty was ever finalized, meaning the Korean Peninsula technically remains in a state of war. Even so, that agreement ended the active fighting and created the DMZ — a roughly 4,000-meter (2.5-mile) buffer zone separating North and South Korea — despite frequent violations over the decades.

The situation in the Middle East is far less settled. Negotiators are still in the early phases of talks, with U.S. midterm elections on the horizon and President Trump pushing to bring an end to a conflict that has grown increasingly unpopular. Two U.S. envoys — Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law — arrived in Qatar on Tuesday for discussions with mediators aimed at reaching an initial deal to end the war with Iran. Their visit followed a weekend of clashes in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.

Ceasefire terms can range from highly detailed to deliberately vague. They may address troop pullbacks, limits on where fighting can occur, humanitarian access, buffer zones, and timelines. Violence levels often do drop during a declared ceasefire — but not always enough to match public expectations of what “ceasefire” should look like.

Technically, ceasefire arrangements of varying stability exist between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and between the United States and Iran. But none of those agreements has brought fighting to a halt.

Trump acknowledged the complicated reality. “It’s a different part of the world, you know,” he told reporters last month. “I’d say in that part, a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”

Rather than ending the conflict, the agreements have “paved the way for a new conflict in which the various parties are fighting over the postwar strategic reality and the acceptable rules of the game,” according to analyst Daniel Sobelman of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

In the Middle East, “so-called ‘rules’ emerge through a process of violent bargaining over what is acceptable and what is a violation,” said Sobelman, who directs the graduate program in international security and diplomacy. That dynamic explains the gap between the quiet many people associate with a ceasefire and the near-daily news of continued fighting.

Does it actually work? Sobelman noted in an email that the U.S. and Iran have exchanged fire multiple times since their ceasefire took effect, “and nonetheless the war has not erupted again because these upticks in violence are limited in time and scope.”

Major institutions — from the United Nations to the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as many news organizations including The Associated Press — have broadly defined ceasefires as political tools designed to reduce pressure on a conflict as long as both sides remain at the negotiating table.

Regarding the U.S.-Iran situation, the AP advised its reporters on June 10 to provide details about conditions on the ground, consider describing the deal with qualifying language such as “tenuous,” and refer to a “‘ceasefire deal,’ which speaks to the political process and not just the military/security dynamic.”

Over the weekend, as fighting flared again in the region, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., offered a more blunt assessment. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether the war was truly over, he compared the ceasefire talks to “almost just a mop-up operation” and described the terms this way: “We have to press them if they strike us. We have to strike them back by 10.” He added: “This is a ceasefire, and yeah, they broke the ceasefire.”

For people on the ground in the region, the experience feels like war — and resistance is growing to calling it anything else.

“It is not a ceasefire when it applies only to Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran, but not to Israel and the United States,” wrote Kathy Gannon, who covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for the AP for 35 years before retiring, in a June 7 Substack post.

Much of the criticism centers on Israel’s continued military operations in Lebanon and Gaza despite the ceasefire agreements. Israeli leaders reference the deals but emphasize their country’s right to respond to what they describe as violations and existential threats.

“Continued Israeli strikes are treated as compatible with the truce; comparable actions by others are treated as its collapse,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow of Middle Eastern studies and geopolitics at the Royal United Services Institute and the Center for American Progress. “A word that once implied mutual restraint now serves to legitimize profoundly unequal restraint.”

Israel continues to hold large portions of southern Lebanon while fighting Hezbollah, resulting in civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have died in Israeli strikes since March, when Hezbollah fired on Israel two days after the Iran war began. On the Israeli side, 38 soldiers and three civilians have been killed.

In Gaza, Israeli strikes have continued even after the ceasefire agreement with Hamas reached in October. On Monday alone, strikes in southern and central Gaza killed at least eight people — including two children — and wounded at least 20 others, according to health officials and emergency services. Palestinian authorities say more than 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed since that ceasefire took effect.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Seven days after a pair of catastrophic earthquakes struck Venezuela, medical professionals are sounding the alarm about a new threat facing those who survived: festering wounds and the spread of infectious disease.

Thousands of Venezuelans left homeless by the June 24 earthquakes are now crowded into makeshift shelters or sleeping outdoors, with little access to clean water and deteriorating sanitation conditions. Relief workers say the situation has evolved into a full-blown medical emergency that could claim additional lives in the coming days and weeks if not addressed urgently.

“The issue we foresee just around the corner are the infections that patients who have been exposed to the disaster for the longest time might bring,” said Eugenio Cova, who leads the trauma unit at Hospital del Oeste Dr. José Gregor Hernández in the capital, Caracas.

That hospital has treated large numbers of critically injured patients since the earthquakes struck, even while dealing with a shortage of vital medical supplies. Cova noted that portions of the facility are now off-limits due to potential earthquake damage, and that the hospital is running low on orthopedic hardware such as screws and plates, as well as medicated gauze needed to ward off infections. The government has reported that 38 hospitals across the country were damaged or otherwise affected by the quakes.

“We’ve already gone through the period of complex trauma — which will continue to occur — but now it’s complicated by infections,” Cova added.

Even as the chances of finding people alive beneath the rubble grow slimmer with each passing day, specialized rescue teams from more than two dozen nations pushed forward Wednesday with their search operations. Survival odds typically drop sharply after 48 to 72 hours under debris, yet crews have continued to pull out a small number of living people — including a toddler discovered alive after being trapped for six days on Tuesday.

The United States, which assumed control of Venezuela’s oil industry following the seizure of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, has ramped up its involvement in recent days. As of Wednesday, 900 U.S. military personnel are on the ground supporting rescue and relief operations, according to Steven McCloud, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command, who spoke with The Associated Press. An additional 100 U.S. State Department personnel have also been deployed to assist with aid efforts, McCloud said.

Venezuelan authorities have confirmed more than 1,900 deaths as of Tuesday, a number that continues to climb. Thousands more people remain missing, leaving the true scope of the disaster uncertain and families in an agonizing wait outside collapsed buildings, hoping to recover the remains of their loved ones. One private online database where families can report missing relatives showed more than 40,600 people still unaccounted for as of Wednesday.

Mexican health officials announced Wednesday that three people died from asphyxiation amid enormous street celebrations in downtown Mexico City, following the national soccer team’s win over Ecuador that earned them a spot in the World Cup Round of 16.

According to Mexico City’s Health Secretariat, two women and one man were discovered unconscious on streets near the famous Angel of Independence monument, where tens of thousands had gathered Tuesday night to mark the victory. The three victims, whose identities were not released, were 19, 44, and 48 years old. Officials offered no further details regarding the exact circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada stated on social media that emergency responders rushed to the scene after reports came in about the three unconscious individuals, but by the time crews arrived, all three had already died.

Mayor Brugada also took the opportunity to appeal to the public, asking residents to celebrate “responsibly, carefully and with empathy.”

The night sky above the Independence Monument — affectionately called “El Ángel” by locals — was filled with fireworks as crowds flooded the 5-kilometer (3-mile) Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, which connects the capital’s central Zócalo square to Chapultepec Park.

In a video shared to social media on Tuesday, Brugada estimated that roughly 1 million people had taken to the streets and urged residents to stop heading toward the city center to reduce dangerous overcrowding. She encouraged revelers instead to attend a concert featuring a well-known cumbia band on the city’s eastern side.

The entire city appeared overwhelmed by the scale of the celebrations Tuesday night. Street musicians set up spontaneously on corners throughout the area, while carts carrying firework rockets known as “toritos” slowly navigated through streets so densely packed that movement was nearly impossible. Bottles of alcohol were passed between young revelers as hundreds more attempted to push their way toward the city center — some making it through, many turned away by the sheer volume of the crowd.

LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood before parliament on Wednesday and delivered a stark warning: racism and intolerance in Britain have grown significantly worse over the past decade, and the problem is eroding the country’s social fabric while pushing people away from public life.

His remarks came just one day after a Reuters report revealed that many Britons of colour are increasingly worried about a resurgence of racist attitudes. That report tied those fears to anti-migrant rhetoric and a political emphasis on crime, as well as recent unrest — including protests in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak and rioting in Belfast after a stabbing attack.

When pressed by lawmakers, Starmer declared that “racism and intolerance is permeating everywhere.”

The prime minister was responding to a fellow lawmaker who expressed concern that racism and the incitement of violence connected to it were becoming normalized — and that some politicians were contributing to that trend.

Starmer made clear the stakes were high. “We have to deal with it, because it’s tearing our societies apart,” he said, adding that “it should be called out by every single person who is a politician at any level in this country.”

He also reflected on the 2016 killing of Labour lawmaker Jo Cox, a strong advocate for immigration and social unity who was murdered by a far-right extremist just days before the Brexit referendum. Starmer said that when he recently thought back on her death, he felt things had gotten worse — not better — in the years since.

The Reuters report from the previous day included warnings from trade unions and professional organizations about an increase in racist abuse in workplaces and public settings, set against the backdrop of growing tensions following unrest across the United Kingdom.

Nigel Farage, who leads the populist party Reform UK, has claimed that British institutions discriminate against white people, arguing those institutions are skewed by policies designed to support ethnic minorities. Starmer has dismissed those claims.

On the overall tone of political discourse, Starmer offered a direct challenge to his fellow politicians: “That’s on us to fix — every single member of this house, whatever their party is and anybody who inflames it should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.”

The Eurovision Song Contest is crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, with Canada officially confirmed as a competitor in the 2027 edition of the beloved pop music spectacle.

The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, and Canadian public broadcaster CBC jointly announced that Canada will send a performer to the 2027 competition, scheduled for May in Bulgaria. This marks the first time a new country has joined Eurovision since Australia made its debut back in 2015.

The news was revealed on Canada Day, the country’s national holiday, and follows Canada’s recent membership in the EBU — an association of national public broadcasters that runs the Eurovision contest.

Often described as the World Cup of pop music, Eurovision has been entertaining audiences since 1956, bringing together musical acts from dozens of mostly European nations to compete for votes from both professional judges and viewers around the world. The contest famously launched ABBA into global stardom with their 1974 winning song “Waterloo.”

CBC President Marie-Philippe Bouchard expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity, saying participation “will allow Canadian talent to be showcased on one of the most storied music stages in the world.”

Eurovision Director Martin Green called Canada’s entry “a further sign that, while born in Europe, the Contest continues to welcome the world.”

CBC says it will share information later this year about how Canada’s Eurovision entry will be chosen. Depending on the country, competitors are either selected through nationally televised competitions or picked directly by the public broadcaster.

Canadians are no strangers to Eurovision success — most notably, Quebecoise singer Celine Dion won the 1988 contest while representing Switzerland.

The contest’s 70th anniversary edition this past May featured 35 countries and was claimed by Bulgarian singer Dara, which is why the 2027 competition will be held in Bulgaria.

Eurovision has faced significant turbulence in recent years stemming from controversy over Israel’s participation. Israel has been a Eurovision competitor since 1973, but organizers’ refusal to remove the country over its military actions in Gaza and the West Bank prompted five longtime members — Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, and Slovenia — to sit out this year’s event.

The 2026 Eurovision final drew an audience of 130 million viewers worldwide, according to organizers, a drop from 160 million who tuned in during 2025.

Despite the financial and viewership setbacks caused by the boycott, Eurovision is pushing forward with expansion plans, including a spinoff competition called Eurovision Song Contest Asia, set to be held in Bangkok in November.

TALLINN, Estonia — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a pardon Wednesday for 28 political prisoners, a move aimed at warming his country’s strained relationship with the West.

The pardon was announced through a presidential decree tied to Belarus’ Independence Day, which falls on Friday. The 28 individuals had been serving sentences for what Belarusian authorities labeled “extremist crimes” — a broad classification the government has routinely applied to those who speak out against the regime. The decree cited “humanitarian” reasons for the release.

Lukashenko has governed the nation of 9.5 million people with a tight grip for over 30 years. Western countries have imposed repeated rounds of sanctions on Belarus, citing both its suppression of human rights and its decision to allow Russia to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian soil in 2022.

His hold on power was severely tested following a disputed 2020 presidential election that drew hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets. Authorities responded with a sweeping crackdown — detaining tens of thousands, with many beaten by police, while leading opposition voices either fled the country or were imprisoned. Despite that turbulent period, Lukashenko secured a seventh term last year in an election the opposition dismissed as illegitimate.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office, Lukashenko has freed hundreds of political detainees through a series of deals brokered with U.S. involvement, some of which have resulted in the easing of American sanctions.

A March agreement, facilitated by Washington, resulted in the release of 250 political prisoners. In return, the U.S. agreed to lift sanctions on two Belarusian state banks and the country’s Finance Ministry, and removed leading Belarusian potash producers from its sanctions list. Then in April, prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut was freed as part of a swap with Poland that released a total of 10 people.

Even so, the Viasna human rights center reports that 864 political prisoners — among them 21 journalists — remain locked up in Belarus.

A report released earlier this week by Nils Muižnieks, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, cautioned that the release of several hundred prisoners over the past year has not translated into any broader improvement in the country’s human rights conditions. “Sustainable progress requires an end to politically motivated repression and accountability for past violations,” he stated.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian opposition leader living in exile, told The Associated Press that while the latest pardons will bring comfort to the families of those freed, “we mustn’t forget that hundreds of political prisoners remain in Belarusian jails, and all of them must be released.”

ANTWERP, Belgium — At least six people lost their lives and many more were hurt Wednesday when fire broke out at an apartment building on the outskirts of the Belgian city of Antwerp, according to police.

Authorities said the fire originated from a technical malfunction on the ground floor of the 10-story structure, which houses more than 200 residents across 80 apartments in the Linkeroever neighborhood. Thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky as the fire spread through the building.

The upper floors of the high-rise appeared to sustain the most severe damage. All residents were evacuated, and people living nearby were urged to keep their windows and doors shut and, if necessary, to switch off any ventilation systems because of the heavy smoke in the area. Evacuated residents were directed to a local emergency shelter.

Police described the conditions firefighters faced as extremely challenging given the fire’s size and ferocity. Multiple teams of first responders and law enforcement were sent to the scene, including a specialized unit equipped with drones.

News footage captured a man on one of the upper floors surrounded by smoke, leaning over a balcony in search of fresh air before eventually making his way to a nearby window.

A medical emergency plan was put into effect to ensure that local hospitals were not overwhelmed by the number of victims.

An Associated Press photographer on the ground reported that the smoke had largely cleared by early afternoon, though emergency personnel remained at the scene in large numbers.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who previously served as mayor of Antwerp, expressed his condolences on social media. “My thoughts are with the victims and the evacuated residents of the terrible fire on Linkeroever,” he wrote.

“My deep appreciation goes out to the emergency services who are striving to help the many affected people as quickly and safely as possible, and who are working hard to bring the fire under control,” the prime minister added.

Linkeroever sits on the eastern edge of Antwerp and is a densely populated residential district featuring numerous high-rise apartment buildings. The area borders a large park that regularly hosts outdoor music events.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria took a significant step toward rebuilding its government Wednesday when interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa released a list of 70 newly appointed lawmakers, forming the foundation of the country’s first Parliament since the end of Assad family rule.

The establishment of this new legislature signals that Syria is pressing forward with the work of governance as it recovers from decades of authoritarian control under the Assad dynasty and a devastating civil war that claimed the lives of roughly half a million people.

Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, who leads Syria’s electoral committee, told reporters that the newly formed 210-member legislative body will convene for the first time on Monday. At that session, lawmakers will be sworn into office and a presidential council for the Parliament will be chosen.

Among the 70 legislators selected by al-Sharaa, 15 are women, bringing the total number of female members in the full legislature to 22.

Syria conducted the first phase of its parliamentary elections back in October, though the southern province of Sweida — an area controlled by Druze armed groups who oppose the central government — was left out of that process. The northeastern region of Syria, then under Kurdish control, was also excluded at that time.

A separate vote was later held in northeastern Syria in May, after government forces seized control of that territory following deadly fighting earlier this year. No election date has been announced yet for Sweida, though al-Sharaa’s Wednesday announcement did include two representatives from that predominantly Druze area.

According to al-Ahmad, the Parliament will operate for a 30-month term, during which members will draft a new elections law and lay the groundwork for future popular elections.

Syria had been without a functioning Parliament since December 2024, when an insurgent offensive led by al-Sharaa’s now-dissolved Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group brought an end to the Assad family’s fifty-year grip on power.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union announced two significant trade measures Wednesday aimed at protecting its steel sector and cracking down on a flood of cheap online packages, as the 27-member bloc struggles with a massive and growing trade imbalance with China.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen applauded the introduction of a new 3 euro ($3.42) fee on small imported packages, writing online: “Today’s change is about restoring fairness for European businesses and better protecting our consumers. The surge in low-value online imports has put our retailers at an unfair disadvantage. Too many of these products also fail to meet EU safety standards, putting consumers at risk.”

On the steel side, the Commission said its new import rules are intended to shield European factories and workers from what it called “the damaging impacts of global overcapacity” in “a strategically crucial European industry.” China’s government subsidies for steel manufacturing have drawn sharp criticism from officials in Brussels and elsewhere, who argue the policy hurts steel producers from Germany’s Ruhr valley to Japan’s Kyushu Island.

The EU’s trade shortfall with China grew in 2025 to approximately 360 billion euros — equivalent to roughly $410 billion, or about 1 billion euros every single day — and continues to climb into 2026.

China’s overall global trade surplus hit a near-record $1.2 trillion last year, even after the Trump administration imposed higher tariffs. Despite China’s reliance on Persian Gulf energy, the war in Iran has not significantly disrupted its export-driven economy, with sales of high-tech goods and vehicles abroad continuing to surge.

Starting Wednesday, the EU eliminated a customs exemption — known as “de minimis” — that previously allowed packages worth less than 150 euros to enter duty-free. Chinese e-commerce giants Temu and Shein account for roughly 90% of that type of trade, the Commission noted. The United States made a comparable policy change last year.

The Commission reported that 5.9 billion small packages entered the EU in 2025, a dramatic rise from about 1.4 billion in 2022. At approximately 16 million packages per day, these shipments make up 97% of all import traffic by volume, though they represent only 2% of total import value. A majority of those packages reportedly failed safety inspections and raised environmental concerns due to excessive plastic use.

Bernd Lange, who chairs the European Parliament’s trade committee, celebrated the move online, writing: “Europe finally shows teeth against flood of cheap package deals.”

However, Gary Ng, a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, cautioned that the 3 euro tax might “not affect the big picture” given how small it is compared to the price difference between European and Chinese goods in the e-commerce space. He added that while the fee may discourage small individual orders and impulse buying, shoppers and online platforms could still work around it through group purchases.

The new steel regulations establish tariff-free import quotas at 18.3 million metric tons per year and impose a 50% duty on quantities exceeding that threshold across 26 categories of steel products. The rules also demand greater transparency from importers to track where the “melt and pour” phase of production occurs — a measure designed to prevent countries like China from bypassing protections by routing products through third countries. The EU had already introduced new steel tariffs in October to guard against a wave of diverted steel imports triggered by U.S. trade policy changes under the Trump administration.

Europe’s steel sector is in deep trouble, with crude steel production falling to a “historic low” in 2026, according to the European Steel Association.

“Europe’s steel production is shrinking while imports as a share of the EU market are rising,” the trade group’s director-general Axel Eggert said in March. “EU policymakers must therefore agree the new steel trade measure quickly without it being weakened otherwise Europe risks losing more industrial capacity.”

Although China produces more than half of the world’s steel, the EU actually imports most of its steel from partners including the U.K., Ukraine, India, Taiwan, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea. The new tariff rules could create friction with free trade agreements involving countries like Japan, though some exceptions have been carved out for Ukraine given its ongoing war with Russia.

A Commission official who was authorized to discuss policy but not to be identified said the EU is looking to build coalitions with like-minded partners: “We will remain open to engage — call it a club, call it an alliance, call it whatever you like — but the idea that we come together with like-minded partners on this global challenge of overcapacity in the market. In an ideal world there is fair competition and level playing fields. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to live in an ideal world.”

Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific and Middle East at the French bank Natixis, predicted that Beijing will push back against the new rules even though they don’t specifically name China as a target. “The Chinese do not want this instrument to work. This could be a springboard for more,” she said. “It opens the door to the overall overcapacity instruments to see how it works.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce had already warned the EU in May against adopting new steel import regulations, saying Beijing would firmly respond to what it called “discriminatory measures” against its companies and products.

Some voices within China have also raised concerns about the international backlash to its massive export push. A recent report from the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing identified what it called “China Shock 2.0” — a massive surge of heavily subsidized, advanced Chinese manufactured goods flooding global markets — as one of the top 10 security risks facing China. The report warned that the EU would likely pile on additional tariffs, which combined with protectionist sentiment in the U.S., could inspire other nations to follow with “steep tariff hikes and investment screening” against Chinese companies.

“What makes this risk distinctive is that it does not originate from a single adversary. It is the ‘wolf pack effect’ of multiple countries acting in concert, inflicting not only direct economic losses on China but, more profoundly, degrading its strategic environment and international business reputation,” the report stated.

Beijing has rejected the “China Shock 2.0” framing, calling it an “opportunity” that spreads the benefits of China’s technological innovations to the rest of the world.

While the EU has not taken as aggressive a stance toward China as the Trump administration has, economists Frederic Neumann and Justin Feng of HSBC wrote in a research note Tuesday that “the direction of travel is clearly shifting in Brussels.”

In June, leaders from the Group of Seven nations jointly called for building independent supply chains for critical minerals essential to defense and high-tech industries.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pushed back Tuesday, saying: “China and the EU are partners, not rivals. The root cause of the EU’s problems does not lie with China.”

Neumann and Feng noted that China’s success in weathering the Trump administration’s escalating tariff threats last year — partly by using its control over rare earth supply chains to negotiate a truce with Washington — suggests Beijing “can withstand external pressure” and “may show less inclination to make concessions to the EU.” The economists concluded: “The near-term outlook points to limited progress towards a comprehensive China-EU settlement.”

García-Herrero pointed out that despite the EU’s common market being critically important to China — with 90% of its battery exports and 60% of its electric vehicle exports heading there — Beijing believes it can prevent unified EU action by lobbying individual member state governments. “China thinks Europe has no leverage,” she said. “They do think they have the upper hand, by all means.”

China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with the EU’s trade representative Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels on Monday. Following those talks, Šefčovič said: “The EU remains open for business but we need to defend our industrial base and keep pushing for a level playing field globally, so our industries get a fair shot at competing. That is why today’s talks – and the ones to follow – matter.”

Šefčovič has set an October deadline for meaningful progress in rebalancing trade, established during a visit to Beijing, adding: “The status quo is not an option.”

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces carried out a second strike on Russia’s large Ufa oil refinery within a single week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Wednesday.

Nearly daily long-range attacks targeting Russian energy infrastructure have triggered a fuel crisis inside Russia and put growing political pressure on the Kremlin, as its full-scale invasion of Ukraine now enters its fifth year.

According to Zelenskyy, the Ufa refinery ranks among Russia’s largest producers of lubricants and sits more than 1,000 kilometers — roughly 600 miles — from the Ukrainian border.

In a separate operation, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces also hit a facility manufacturing missile components in Russia’s Penza region, located southeast of Moscow and approximately 500 kilometers, or about 300 miles, from Ukraine.

Russian authorities did not confirm either strike, and the claims could not be independently verified. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that its forces intercepted 179 Ukrainian drones across 16 Russian regions, as well as over annexed Crimea and the waters of the Azov and Black seas.

Penza Governor Oleg Melnichenko acknowledged only that debris from a downed drone had damaged a power line and landed on a building that was under construction.

For months, Ukraine has been using domestically developed and produced drones and missiles to pound Russian energy infrastructure, hitting refineries, fuel terminals, storage facilities, and pipeline pumping stations.

Fuel rationing has been introduced across numerous regions of Russia, which is one of the world’s top energy-producing nations.

Western officials say Ukraine has gained a military edge in recent months through the development of new weapons systems. Analysts and officials note that Ukrainian strikes on Russian supply lines behind the front have slowed the Russian army’s battlefield momentum.

“Russians now have great problems with delivering infantry to the front line and supplying it,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Wednesday.

Ukraine has also emerged as a supplier of military technology — particularly drones — that other nations are seeking to acquire.

With European leaders increasingly concerned about Russia’s territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine, many have characterized Kyiv as a critical line of defense against further Russian expansion.

“Ukraine is becoming a security provider for the whole of Europe,” said Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson, speaking in Kyiv where he met with Fedorov.

On Tuesday, Ukraine and Sweden signed an agreement for Sweden to supply Kyiv with Gripen fighter jets. Fedorov said the aircraft will help Ukraine intercept Russian planes carrying heavy glide bombs.

Jonsson said European nations want Ukraine integrated into Euro-Atlantic defense structures, though the question of Ukrainian NATO membership remains contentious and is expected to be on the agenda at an alliance summit in Turkey next week.

“The sooner it happens, the better it is for you, the better it is for our security and prosperity as well,” Jonsson said at a press conference.

Ukraine is also pursuing membership in the European Union, a process that could take years. Zelenskyy traveled to Ireland on Wednesday — the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency.

“Ukraine proves every day that it deserves to be an equal partner of our common European home. And we hope that during Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council, we will be able to achieve tangible progress on the path to membership and open all negotiations clusters,” Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory continued Wednesday, with three civilians reported dead. A Russian drone struck a bus in the southern Kherson region, killing two people and wounding six others, according to regional head Oleksandr Prokudin.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, a 43-year-old woman was killed and three others were injured — including a 35-year-old pregnant woman — when Russia attacked five gas stations overnight, regional authorities reported. Russian forces have been increasingly targeting Ukrainian fuel stations in recent weeks.

Three individuals were killed in unrelated attacks at different locations across Israel, all occurring within a 60-minute window between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The victims included a prominent rabbi in Netanya, a bus driver in Shefa-Amr, and a young man near Yagur.

In Netanya, 75-year-old Rabbi Amos Guetta was fatally stabbed inside a synagogue. Authorities later took a Netanya man in his 20s into custody on suspicion of murder. Guetta was widely recognized for his dedication to helping those in need, and the suspect was reportedly a familiar face at the rabbi’s yeshiva.

According to a preliminary investigation, the suspect went to the rabbi’s home, carried out the stabbing, and then fled. Police indicated the man had initially come to pray alongside the rabbi, but a dispute erupted between the two. Investigators believe the suspect then charged at Guetta and stabbed him multiple times before escaping. Early police assessments suggest the suspect may be dealing with mental health issues.

In Shefa-Amr, 24-year-old bus driver Ali Suweid was shot and killed in a parking lot while heading to work. Magen David Adom emergency personnel declared him dead upon arrival at the scene. Police believe the shooting may be tied to an ongoing violent dispute between two local families.

Near Yagur, 21-year-old Amil Abu Kalib, a resident of Basmat Tab’un, was shot and killed inside his car in the parking lot of a shopping complex. Both police and media reports suggest this killing is connected to a conflict between rival criminal organizations. Investigators suspect the attack may have been carried out in retaliation for a separate fatal shooting that occurred Tuesday in Haifa, also believed to be part of a dispute involving Arab crime families.

Authorities were continuing to investigate all three killings as of Wednesday. One suspect has been detained in connection with the Netanya stabbing, while detectives work to uncover the full circumstances surrounding the two shootings in Shefa-Amr and near Yagur.

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — On a normal day, Alexander Delgado stands in front of a classroom teaching physical education at a school in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua. But for the past week, he has been leading a makeshift rescue crew — neighbors and out-of-state volunteers alike — digging through the wreckage of a public housing complex in search of survivors and victims of two powerful earthquakes that struck a coastal state and parts of Venezuela’s capital.

Citizens like Delgado, often armed with nothing more than shovels, ropes and their bare hands, have been trying to fill the gaps left by what they describe as a sluggish and insufficient government response to the country’s most powerful earthquakes in a century.

Adding to the difficulty, volunteers say, is interference from some Venezuelan military and police personnel who have allegedly blocked aid deliveries, seized donated supplies and looted items from destroyed buildings.

Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications, which handles media inquiries on behalf of the military and police, did not respond to requests for comment. Senior government officials have dismissed growing civilian anger and reports of military involvement in looting as misinformation, urging the public to disregard what they called “manipulation strategies on social networks” and trust only official information.

Delgado has no formal rescue training, though he learned basic first aid through his job. He traveled to La Guaira — the hardest-hit state — one day after the earthquakes struck to help however he could. In his view, ordinary citizens and international rescue teams have shouldered the bulk of the effort. “You see the firefighters, (Mexican rescue team) Los Topos, but you don’t see the state per se,” he said.

For five days, his crew worked under the scorching Caribbean sun, moving debris and straining to hear any sign of life beneath the wreckage. Local volunteers kept them going, bringing water, face masks, ice and detailed knowledge of the eight-tower Hugo Chavez housing development, six of whose towers have been reduced to rubble.

By the sixth day — Tuesday — two international rescue teams and some local firefighters were on site, along with one truck from Venezuela’s forensic service. Heavy equipment, however, remained absent. That afternoon, the crew discovered the body of a woman lying between a floor slab and other debris. Work stopped while they waited for the forensic service to remove her.

‘MAKING DO’

The criticism of the government’s disaster response comes as acting President Delcy Rodriguez works to consolidate her authority following the removal of her predecessor Nicolas Maduro in January.

“Delcy and company have been in charge for 26 years and they only have one script,” said Jimmy Story, who served as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela until 2023. “They take credit for anything positive, push blame for anything negative and try to control the narrative.”

President Donald Trump has praised the U.S. relationship with Rodriguez, and American companies have shown interest in opportunities ranging from oil to gold. The U.S. Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires John Barrett also expressed support for Rodriguez’s handling of the crisis, telling Univision on Monday that he had “a great deal of confidence” in local authorities.

Volunteers on the ground see things differently. Mijaed Diaz, a veterinarian who joined other volunteers from a university, clambered over the ruins of two collapsed towers looking for body bags for four people just pulled from the wreckage. “I would like more presence of public entities, who really are those responsible for this. But in the end we’re used to making do with almost nothing,” he said.

After initially welcoming civilian volunteers, the government reversed course on Friday and restricted public access to La Guaira, infuriating people who were trying to help locate survivors.

A government employee stationed at a checkpoint in La Guaira told Reuters on Sunday that they personally witnessed police officers and military personnel seize aid from three supply trucks, with those involved boasting about what they had managed to “score.” The employee, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, also said the officers filmed themselves with shovels as if participating in rescue efforts before abruptly walking away.

FRUSTRATION VENTED OVER SOCIAL MEDIA

Some Venezuelans have taken to social media to express their outrage, posting videos that appear to show security forces picking through debris and taking clothing, appliances and cash. Reuters has not independently confirmed the authenticity of those videos. However, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement late Tuesday that four crime scene police officials had been detained and removed from their positions and would be investigated for “appropriating financial assets acquired amid the ruins.” The ministry added that police have generally been acting with transparency.

Other videos show armed Venezuelan military members standing by and watching as civilian volunteers and foreign rescue teams race to find survivors. Still, residents say some military and police personnel are genuinely contributing to the relief effort. One resident told Reuters she saw soldiers remove belongings from buildings at the request of residents, and Reuters witnesses reported that police and firefighters in Chacao, a well-off neighborhood in Caracas, have been working around the clock to respond to humanitarian needs.

Some Venezuelan nonprofits, whose operations had been severely curtailed by government restrictions on civil society enacted in 2024, have publicly stepped back into action to help survivors.

‘KNOCKING, AND NOTHING’

“We are operating and trying to show, once again, that our work is about supporting communities and not something for which we should be persecuted,” said Roberto Patino, founder of the NGO Alimenta La Solidaridad, which runs community kitchens. Since the disaster, the group has focused on getting food, medicine, equipment and Starlink internet antennas to the communities hit hardest.

The United Nations Development Programme estimates the earthquakes have caused approximately $6.7 billion in damage. The United States has pledged $350 million in aid, dispatched rescue teams and sent military personnel to help repair the airport. However, some observers have raised questions about billions of dollars from oil sales sitting in a U.S.-controlled account.

“While the response has been robust, it also calls into question the transparency over the oil fund,” said Story. “Will these funds be released for the disaster response?”

Miguel Poleo, a member of Delgado’s civilian rescue crew, arrived at Los Cocos immediately after the earthquakes, desperately searching for his stepdaughter, her husband and their son. His message about the government’s response was blunt: “We told them two days ago that there are survivors, that they are knocking, and nothing. They don’t help anyone.”

Three high-ranking commanders within Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been identified in a newly released report by Amnesty International, which accuses them of directing war crimes during the siege and takeover of el-Fasher, a city in North Darfur, last October.

The report was unveiled Wednesday in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. At the launch event, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard stated that the Rapid Support Forces — known as the RSF — carried out crimes against humanity and acts of ethnic cleansing during the assault. Callamard called for an immediate ceasefire and urged the deployment of a United Nations protection force to keep civilians safe.

The RSF’s capture of el-Fasher in October 2025 resulted in more than 6,000 deaths over a span of just three days — an assault that United Nations experts described as bearing the “hallmarks of genocide.”

As part of its investigation, Amnesty International reviewed nine videos. The footage allegedly showed one RSF commander executing civilians, a second torturing detainees, and a third giving orders to torture prisoners.

Callamard outlined a sweeping list of crimes she said the RSF committed, including murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, extermination, and persecution. She urged world leaders to step in and put an end to attacks on civilians that she said continue “unhindered.”

“It also requires strengthening accountability by ensuring sufficient support for all existing accountability mechanisms for Sudan, including the International Criminal Court, and U.N. and African Union-backed fact-finding missions. Commanders identified in this report should be investigated and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecuted,” Callamard said.

The RSF has not issued any response to the Amnesty International report. The rights organization said it sent the findings to the paramilitary group’s leader, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, last month but received no reply.

The conflict in Sudan began in April 2023, stemming from long-standing tensions between the country’s military and the RSF. Since then, the war has claimed the lives of at least 59,000 people, forced roughly 13 million people from their homes, and driven large portions of the country into famine. More than 30 million people are currently in need of humanitarian aid.

LONDON (AP) — Two British police officers are facing a potential gross misconduct investigation after they placed handcuffs on and arrested an 18-year-old who had been stabbed and was dying, the Independent Office for Police Conduct announced Wednesday.

The officers, who belong to the Hampshire Constabulary, were the first to respond to the scene in December 2025 after Henry Nowak was stabbed in the southern England coastal city of Southampton. The man who killed him, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, gave officers a false account, claiming he had been the victim of a racist attack carried out by Nowak, who was white.

Body camera footage captured Nowak’s final moments, showing him in handcuffs telling the responding officers that he had been stabbed and was unable to breathe. The video sparked significant public outrage after it became widely known.

The police conduct office stated that the two officers “may have potentially breached the professional behavior standards of duties and responsibilities, use of force, and discreditable conduct.”

Derrick Campbell, the director of engagement at the IOPC, noted that the investigation “does not necessarily mean that disciplinary proceedings will follow. At the end of our investigation, we will decide whether any officers should face disciplinary proceedings.”

The watchdog agency is also examining whether race or religion influenced the officers’ decision-making during the incident. Far-right activists and politicians later used Nowak’s death to push claims that the justice system is biased against white people.

Following the conviction of Digwa, 23, for murder last month — for which he was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in prison — violence broke out in Southampton.

The world-renowned Calgary Stampede opened its gates Friday, but the festive atmosphere is being overshadowed by a growing movement to separate Alberta from Canada — a debate that is stirring up conflict at rodeos and summer events throughout the oil-rich province.

In October, Alberta residents will cast ballots in a non-binding referendum asking whether the province should begin the constitutionally required legal steps toward eventually holding a binding independence vote. It marks the first time any Canadian province outside of Quebec has ever brought such a question to the public.

The tension has already disrupted some events. In the central Alberta town of Sundre, organizers called off an annual rodeo parade after they chose to ban a pro-independence float from participating — a decision that triggered what organizers described as a wave of hostile messages online. The organizers did not respond to a request for comment.

At the Ponoka Stampede, a booth set up by Alberta separatists under a “let’s talk” banner drew both curious visitors and frustrated attendees who simply wanted to enjoy a beloved summer tradition without the political noise.

“I’m getting tired of hearing about it because it’s just causing a lot of people to be stressed or angry with each other for no reason,” said Leanne Brown, a retired police officer who was at the Ponoka event, located roughly 150 kilometers — about 93 miles — northeast of Sundre. “It’s a little too much all of the time.”

Not everyone shared that frustration. Chris Parsons, 44, who works in the oil and gas industry and backs Alberta independence, said he was pleased to see separatists represented both in a parade and at a fairground booth alongside the rodeo.

“Maybe they — the federal government — will take us a little bit more seriously,” Parsons said.

An Ipsos poll conducted in early June found that support for Alberta independence has dropped 10 percentage points since January. Just 19% of voters now say they support the province starting the process to leave the Canadian federation.

The October 19 referendum question will not directly trigger a split from Canada. Rather, it will ask voters whether the Alberta government should initiate the legal steps required by the constitution before any future binding independence vote could take place.

Supporters of separation have long expressed frustration with the environmental policies advanced under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, arguing those policies damaged Alberta’s oil and gas sector.

Trudeau’s successor, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, has been working to address some of those concerns through a federal-provincial agreement designed to help Alberta expand its energy industry. Carney confirmed he will attend this year’s Calgary Stampede. Speaking to reporters last week, he declared that Canada “is the greatest country in the world.”

“We’re not perfect, we can get better, but Canada’s worth fighting for. And standing up for Canada and supporting Canada is important,” Carney said. Carney, who largely grew up in Edmonton — Alberta’s provincial capital — previously led the Bank of England in 2016 when Britain held its referendum to leave the European Union. He has referred to the vote being pursued by Alberta’s right-wing provincial government as a “dangerous bluff.”

Officials in Ottawa are also concerned that the referendum could undermine Carney’s efforts to present a unified Canadian position during the upcoming renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Carney is scheduled to be in Alberta on Wednesday for Canada Day celebrations.

The Calgary Stampede is far more than a rodeo — it’s a 10-day celebration of Western Canadian culture drawing people from across the country and around the world. The event, Alberta’s largest tourist attraction, features chuckwagon racing, pancake breakfasts, live concerts, and what is billed as the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. It’s a tradition that brings together people from all walks of life, from young children to top business executives.

Politicians from across the political spectrum routinely attend the Stampede and other Alberta summer events, which serve as major networking opportunities.

Neither those pushing for independence nor those advocating for a united Canada will have a float in the official Calgary Stampede parade this year — applications closed back in February, according to a Stampede spokeswoman. However, many unofficial Stampede-related events are organized by community groups and politicians. The spokeswoman noted that the Stampede remains focused on “bringing people together through Western hospitality and community spirit.”

American and Iranian officials sat down for technical negotiations in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday, working toward a durable ceasefire and an agreement on how ships will move through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a source with direct knowledge of the discussions and an Iranian official.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to meet with Qatar’s prime minister — who is serving as a mediator alongside Pakistan — to help set the stage for the negotiations. However, neither Kushner nor Witkoff participated directly in the talks themselves, the source said.

The negotiations are rooted in a 14-point interim agreement that was signed last month. That accord was intended to bring a halt to the conflict that erupted following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and launch a 60-day window for negotiating a permanent peace arrangement.

Despite that framework, the two nations have publicly disagreed over what the interim deal actually means, and that tension has fueled a series of back-and-forth military strikes over the past week.

Two senior Iranian sources said Wednesday that Iran is firmly committed to gaining international recognition of its authority over the strait, including the right to collect fees from vessels entering or leaving the Gulf — by force if necessary.

Shipping through the strait has partially resumed. Before the war broke out, the waterway handled roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade.

The Doha talks are organized into sessions involving lead negotiators and subject-matter specialists, the source familiar with the proceedings said. Discussions began Tuesday night and were still ongoing Wednesday, according to the Iranian official.

Iran has publicly identified two top priorities: reaching an agreement on management of the Strait of Hormuz and securing the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. The Iranian official confirmed those two issues are the focus of the current round of talks. The U.S., for its part, has stated its primary goal is ensuring ships can move freely through the strait.

Iran’s state media reported Wednesday that a foreign container ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz after drifting into shallow waters outside the shipping lane designated by Iranian authorities.

Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis firm Vanda Insights, described the situation in the strait as incomplete: “Hormuz continues to reopen but it’s patchy, unpredictable, and not fully transparent.”

The war has had wide-ranging consequences, including Iranian attacks on Gulf states that host U.S. military installations, thousands of deaths — primarily in Iran and Lebanon — and a significant rise in oil and fuel costs.

President Trump is also facing political pressure to limit the economic damage from the conflict ahead of November’s midterm elections, which will decide which party controls Congress. In Iran, the country’s theocratic government survived the war but is dealing with public anger over a badly damaged economy.

Oil prices, which already dropped sharply during the second quarter of the year, fell by more than 1% on Wednesday.

The interim agreement also addresses a separate but related conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The U.S. has supported a parallel set of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which produced a security framework. However, Hezbollah has rejected that framework, and analysts caution it could cement Israel’s ongoing presence in southern Lebanon.

Diplomatic activity surrounding Lebanon was described as intense in the period leading up to Tuesday evening, according to the source with knowledge of the broader talks.

Authorities in South Africa arrested more than 900 individuals during anti-migrant protests that took place on Tuesday, according to a senior police official who spoke out on Wednesday.

The large-scale arrests came as demonstrations against migrants swept through the country, prompting a significant law enforcement response.

Several people lost their lives Wednesday morning when a fire broke out at a ten-story apartment building in Antwerp, Belgium, according to local police.

Firefighters received an emergency call at 9:53 a.m. local time — 7:53 a.m. GMT — reporting a “raging fire” on the eighth floor of the building, which is located in Antwerp’s Linkeroever neighborhood, police announced on their website.

The apartment block was home to more than 200 residents, all of whom were evacuated from the building. Police confirmed that in addition to the fatalities, several people sustained injuries in the incident.

Fire crews from multiple districts converged on the scene to battle the blaze.

Authorities issued a public safety warning to people living near the building, stating: “We ask local residents affected by the smoke to close windows and doors and, if necessary, switch off ventilation.”

Authorities in Greece say five people were hospitalized after three firebomb attacks struck apartment buildings in the northern city of Thessaloniki early Wednesday, with the attacks apparently aimed at the homes of members of the country’s ruling conservative New Democracy party.

All three incidents occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:45 a.m., with attackers using makeshift explosive devices constructed from camping gas canisters. Police said all five injuries resulted from the final attack of the three, during which vehicles including cars and motorcycles were set on fire.

Among the vehicles destroyed was one reportedly belonging to a New Democracy parliamentary candidate. That candidate sustained burn injuries, and her mother was admitted to intensive care with burns as well, according to police. Three additional residents of the apartment building were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation.

Attacks by shadowy militant groups in Greece against politicians, law enforcement, and other authority figures are not uncommon. The vast majority result only in property damage with no casualties.

The latest attacks follow a similar incident in July 2025, when a bomb went off outside the Thessaloniki home of the president of Greece’s prison guards association. That official was not hurt, though two bystanders sustained minor injuries from broken glass. In June 2024, a police officer stationed outside a top judge’s home in Athens was wounded in a gasoline bomb attack.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian state television reported Wednesday that a foreign container ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz after the vessel failed to follow the route Iran has designated for ships passing through the waterway. No additional details about the ship were immediately provided.

The report appeared designed to reinforce Iran’s assertions of authority over the strait — a waterway long recognized internationally as open passage, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flowed during peacetime, following the U.S.-Iran war.

The news broke as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, were in Doha, Qatar, for discussions aimed at bringing the conflict to a permanent close.

Technical-level diplomatic talks got underway Wednesday in Qatar, according to two regional officials who requested anonymity to speak about the closed-door sessions. Negotiators are working to hammer out specifics that would allow top leaders to finalize a deal, though major sticking points remain — particularly regarding the strait and Lebanon.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge that the negotiations had begun.

Under an interim agreement, Iran and the United States agreed to allow ships to pass through the strait without fees for 60 days. However, Tehran has insisted it must control vessel routes and eventually collect passage fees — a demand that breaks with longstanding practice. The U.S. and numerous Gulf Arab nations have rejected the fee arrangement. An attempt by Oman and a United Nations agency to establish an alternative route near Oman’s coastline triggered attacks across the Middle East last weekend, underscoring how volatile the situation remains.

Iranian state TV reported that the grounded ship

Two people died from suffocation while taking part in World Cup celebrations in Mexico City, according to the capital’s health secretariat, which announced the news in the early hours of Wednesday.

A road bridge linking North Korea and Russia is not expected to open in the near future, according to U.S. think tank 38 North, after satellite images revealed that facilities on the Russian side of the crossing remain unfinished.

The 850-meter bridge — roughly 2,789 feet long — will connect to Russia’s highway system and would mark the first-ever road link between the two nations. The project was agreed upon during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June 2024. Russia’s embassy in Pyongyang had announced in April that the crossing would open on June 19.

Analysts have noted that the bridge could eventually boost logistics activity between the two countries by more than 40%, while also helping North Korea lessen its significant dependence on China by strengthening economic ties with Russia.

In a report released Tuesday, 38 North said satellite imagery shows the bridge spanning the Tumen River appears to be finished, and North Korea’s border facilities are mostly complete. However, the think tank said significant work remains on the Russian side before the crossing can begin operating.

According to 38 North, the North Korean side already features a large warehouse, a parking lot, paved roads, and what appears to be a finished frontier post. By contrast, Russia’s probable customs complex is far less developed and is expected to be at least three times larger when complete.

Russia’s transport ministry declined to offer any comment on the matter. The North Korean embassy in Moscow had not responded to a request for comment at the time of reporting.

The bridge has come to represent the growing relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang. The two nations have grown increasingly close in recent years, largely through military cooperation tied to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine — a relationship that has drawn concern from both the United States and South Korea.

Doo Jin-ho, who leads the Eurasia Center at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul, said the bridge had originally been expected to open before the end of the year. He said the accelerated June target appeared to have been more of a political gesture — essentially a symbolic “gift” — rather than a realistic deadline.

Russia and North Korea held a ceremony in April to mark the physical connection of the bridge. Russia’s transport ministry has said the crossing is designed to handle as many as 300 vehicles and 2,850 people per day.

Doo said the delay is not likely to cause any immediate economic harm, but it does raise questions about how well Moscow and Pyongyang are coordinating their efforts.

“The issue is more about trust and symbolism than economic impact,” he said.

LAHORE, Pakistan — Grief-stricken families and community members came together Wednesday in the Pakistani city of Lahore to lay to rest 14 young students who lost their lives when the roof of a tutoring center gave way the day before.

Authorities are now investigating whether negligence tied to ongoing construction at the building was responsible for the deadly collapse. Eight other children who were injured in the incident remain hospitalized in stable condition.

Both residents in the area and early police findings suggest the tutoring center had been operating out of an older building. Investigators believe the unfinished second-floor roof may have given way due to shoddy construction work.

Senior police official Kamran Faisal confirmed that at least two individuals had been taken into custody, including the owner of the building, as investigators work to establish who bears responsibility. Faisal said negligence on the part of the owner and construction workers appears to be at the root of the disaster.

“We are still investigating to determine exactly whose negligence resulted in this tragic incident,” Faisal said.

Funeral prayers for the victims, all of whom were 14 years old or younger, began before sunrise and carried on into Wednesday morning. The majority of the children were laid to rest in a nearby cemetery, though some families chose to transport their loved ones to their hometowns for burial.

Overnight, ambulances carried the children’s remains back to their families in Kahna, a neighborhood on the edge of Lahore. As the bodies arrived home, the sound of wailing filled the streets. Mothers and female relatives kept vigil beside the children through the night, while classmates and friends stood nearby, visibly overcome with sorrow.

Among those attending the Wednesday morning funerals was Mohammad Ashfaq, a laborer who lost both his 7-year-old son and his nephew in the collapse.

“I cannot express my pain and grief in words,” Ashfaq said, weeping, as family members tried to offer him comfort.

Not far away, Muhammad Farooq mourned the death of his young daughter.

“Yesterday she went to her tuition class at around 4 p.m.,” Farooq recalled. “Around 4:45 p.m., my family called me and said the roof of the tuition center had collapsed. They told me many children were trapped under the debris. Fourteen children were killed, and the injured were taken to the hospital.”

Local resident Mohammad Tahir described how neighbors rushed to help before emergency responders could arrive.

“Rescuers arrived quickly, but before they reached us, neighbors rushed in with shovels and even dug through the debris with their bare hands,” Tahir said. “We also pulled children from the rubble, but many could not be saved.”

Building collapses are not uncommon in Pakistan, where construction regulations are frequently ignored and structures are often built using substandard materials in an effort to cut costs.

For many in the community, grief has given way to anger. Residents have placed blame on the tutoring center’s owner for holding classes in what they say was a deteriorating, unsafe building, even as construction was underway, and they are calling for those responsible to face serious consequences.

“We don’t know whose funeral to attend first or whose home to visit first to offer condolences,” Tahir said.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping used a high-profile address Wednesday to hold up his country’s swift industrialization as an alternative path forward for developing nations, projecting a sense of growing confidence both domestically and on the global stage.

Xi, now 14 years into his leadership, pointed out that China accomplished in just a few decades what took Western nations centuries to achieve.

“We advocate the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, providing Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions and Chinese strength for addressing major issues facing humanity,” he said during an event celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party.

China has long pushed back against U.S. dominance in global affairs. While Beijing has said it does not seek to replace the existing world order, it wants to reshape it to better reflect the interests of developing countries. Xi’s government went toe-to-toe with the U.S. last year, ultimately pressuring President Donald Trump to roll back import tariffs that had been placed on Chinese goods.

Xi told the audience that the world has entered a new era of instability and change, with humanity standing at a critical turning point. He renewed earlier commitments to build a new kind of international relationship aimed at fostering global peace and development.

The speech, delivered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, echoed many of the same themes Xi raised at the party’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2021 — among them, the importance of a powerful military and the goal of bringing Taiwan under Chinese rule.

Xi stressed the need to accelerate the military’s development to reach world-class status, while keeping the armed forces firmly under Communist Party control. In recent years, a number of high-ranking generals have been ousted as part of an anti-corruption campaign, which many observers also view as an effort to ensure loyalty within the military ranks.