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MADRID — Firefighters in southern Spain continued battling one of the country’s deadliest wildfires on Friday, with at least 11 people confirmed dead and 19 others still unaccounted for. The fire swept through rural villages in the Andalusia region near Los Gallardos, sending terrified residents scrambling for any escape route they could find.

As smoke filled the air and flames closed in on their homes, many residents chose to flee — and for some, that decision proved fatal. Officials had instructed residents in certain mountain areas above Los Gallardos to leave via a designated evacuation route, while those in the forested hamlet of Bedar were told to stay inside their homes.

But as the fire moved in fast, some residents in Bedar found it impossible to remain. Antonio Rubio, a handyman who lives there, described leaving on his own initiative Thursday afternoon. “We left the house yesterday afternoon at 5 o’clock. The fire didn’t reach my house — it stopped just short of it — but we could already see so much smoke, even though the fire was some distance away, so we had to leave,” he said. “We did so of our own accord.”

A British woman named Sonia, who lives in Los Gallardos and chose not to share her last name, said she had taken in relatives after authorities told them to evacuate at 7 p.m. local time. She explained that residents were directed away from the main road out of Bedar and instead sent on a back route higher into the mountains before looping toward the coast.

“There are many houses in the middle of the countryside in the mountains, so people would take whichever roads they could,” she said. “The road from Bédar to Los Gallardos was blocked, since the fire had crossed the road and it was impassable.”

Antonio Sanz, who oversees emergency response for the Andalusia region, said residents in Bedar had been given two options: follow the designated evacuation route or remain sheltered in their homes given how close the fire was. He confirmed that some chose a different path — one that proved deadly.

“In situations like this, it is essential that we all follow the routes indicated,” Sanz said. “Unfortunately in this instance a decision was taken to use another route that wasn’t the one recommended for evacuation. Looking for another way out via a dry riverbed turned out to be a trap.”

Sanz said four people — believed to be British based on the right-hand placement of the steering wheel in their car — were found dead inside a single vehicle. Seven additional victims were discovered after apparently getting out of their cars and trying to flee on foot. Of the total confirmed dead, ten appeared to be foreign nationals and one was identified as Spanish.

“The village of Bedar in the end wasn’t affected by the flames in most cases, so that order to shelter in place avoided a more serious situation,” Sanz added.

As officials worked through the early morning hours Friday to identify the dead and locate the missing, worried family members from across the globe turned to social media and local online forums for information. One woman posting from the United States said her brother was among a group of ten people who attempted to escape through a valley near a stream. She shared GPS coordinates and pleaded with emergency responders to search the area.

Regional President Juanma Moreno acknowledged that the impulse to run is a natural human reaction. “When many people see a fire, the first thing they do is run away, don’t they? And of course, they think they know the routes but if they don’t have the right information, those routes can of course turn into a death trap,” he said.

China declared a temporary ban on helium exports Friday, taking effect immediately, as renewed military fighting in the Middle East raises fears of fresh shortages of the gas that plays a vital role in computer chip production.

Conflict earlier this year between the U.S. and Israel against Iran triggered helium shortages that disrupted companies around the world, including those in China, where the artificial intelligence sector increasingly depends on domestically produced chips to train and operate AI systems. Helium plays a key role in managing heat during the semiconductor manufacturing process.

The helium export restriction is the latest move by Beijing to protect its own supplies of critical materials by limiting what leaves the country. China has previously taken similar steps with fuel, fertilizers, and sulfuric acid.

China is also working to expand its domestic chip-making capacity and reduce its reliance on advanced Nvidia semiconductors, which are subject to U.S. export controls.

While China has been working to grow its own helium production, it still relies heavily on imports from abroad. Analysts estimate that China sources roughly 85% or more of its helium needs from other countries. Qatar supplies a large portion of global helium output and has provided more than half of China’s imports in recent years.

The export ban could put additional pressure on global helium availability. Chinese companies have increasingly served as middlemen, buying Russian helium and reselling portions of it to markets overseas, including in Europe.

Helium is drawn from natural gas fields that contain unusually high concentrations of the gas and cannot be quickly produced through other industrial methods. In chip manufacturing, it is used in a range of processes including wafer cooling, plasma etching, chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, lithography support, and leak detection.

PARIS — The French presidency announced Friday that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will both be present at Monday’s “Coalition of the Willing” gathering in Paris, a meeting designed to reinforce international backing for Ukraine.

The session is intended to build on the progress made at the NATO summit held earlier this week. According to the Elysee, discussions are still ongoing regarding security guarantees that would take effect once a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia is established.

U.S. President Donald Trump has recently signaled a more supportive position toward Kyiv in its ongoing conflict with Russia, a shift that was evident at both the recent G7 and NATO summits.

The Elysee also confirmed that two additional nations — Moldova and North Macedonia — have now joined the coalition. European Union leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa are also expected to be in attendance at Monday’s meeting.

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal’s highest judicial body has struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have expanded the role of parliament while limiting the powers of the country’s president.

The legislation had been approved last month, and the government indicated it would be put to a public vote. However, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye challenged whether the process was legally sound and asked the Constitutional Council to conduct an emergency review.

On Thursday evening, the council determined the law was unconstitutional, effectively killing what had been a central goal of the parliamentary majority.

The dispute over rewriting the constitution is unfolding against a backdrop of rising political friction between President Faye and his former prime minister, Ousmane Sonko. Sonko was removed from the prime minister’s post and subsequently elected as president of the National Assembly earlier this year. The political partnership that had carried both men to power in March 2024 has since fallen apart. A new prime minister has been named, and a new government is expected to be formed.

Critics in the opposition see the amendment push — put forward by Pastef, the party led by Sonko — as a political maneuver by the former prime minister, who continues to hold considerable sway over the parliamentary majority.

The proposed changes would have given parliament greater authority, replaced the Constitutional Council with a newly created Constitutional Court, and placed tighter restrictions on the president’s ability to dissolve the National Assembly.

Sonko responded positively to the council’s ruling, acknowledging it as final and binding. “This cycle reminds us that in a democracy, when institutions play their role, each within its sphere of influence, no crisis can arise,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A wave of unexplained, unclaimed airstrikes struck Iran following the U.S. military’s announcement that it had concluded its own campaign of attacks, raising fresh questions about who else may be taking aim at the Islamic Republic.

The strikes occurred on Thursday, at the very moment Iran was preparing to hold burial services for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The explosions affected multiple locations across southern Iran. Iran’s government has stopped short of directly blaming any particular country, though one member of parliament issued a pointed warning to the United Arab Emirates, accusing it of secretly supporting the United States in its military campaign against Iran.

Gulf Arab nations, which have repeatedly been targeted by Iran since the conflict began on February 28, did not immediately respond when asked to comment on Friday about the strikes. Both those countries and the U.S. have been insisting that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open for international shipping. Iran, however, is demanding sole control over the strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flows — and has called on vessels to begin paying fees to Tehran, despite the waterway being recognized internationally for decades as open to all.

Iran’s control over the strait during the conflict helped trigger a global energy crisis, though oil prices have fallen sharply from wartime peaks of $120 per barrel.

Israel, which participated in the war against Iran, has also not claimed responsibility for any recent strikes on Iranian territory.

The U.S. military’s Central Command announced around 6:30 a.m. local Iran time on Thursday that it had finished a round of strikes hitting approximately 90 targets. Shortly afterward, Iranian state media and news outlets reported additional explosions and airstrikes targeting the country’s Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, as well as the cities of Ahvaz and Chabahar, among other locations. Central Command did not respond to a request for comment about those additional strikes.

In response to Thursday’s attacks, Iran launched a broader round of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, sending missiles toward Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Qatar. Air raid sirens sounded in all four countries, forcing residents to seek shelter. One person was reportedly injured in Kuwait as air defense systems worked to intercept incoming fire across the region.

The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, flew to Kuwait shortly after the Iranian attack to meet with that country’s ruling emir. Gulf Arab nations also held phone calls with Qatar’s foreign minister, who — along with Pakistan — has been playing a central role in mediating negotiations between Iran and the United States over the interim agreement currently in place to prevent a return to open warfare.

Officials say that during the Iran war, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched airstrikes against Iran after Tehran struck energy infrastructure inside their borders.

Israel, which under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been engaged in an aggressive campaign against Iran, has not struck the Islamic Republic since June. Israel has also typically been quick to claim credit when it carries out attacks on Iran.

Israel’s government said Netanyahu spoke with Trump on Thursday evening, with Trump briefing Netanyahu “on American moves in the Gulf.”

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, also renewed threats that his country was prepared to confront Iran if the situation demanded it. “The Israel military is on alert and ready to renew the campaign, to reestablish aerial superiority, and to carry out a blue-white (Israeli) strike in Iran to remove threats, even for a third time,” Katz said at a military ceremony. “If we will have to return, we will return with even greater force.”

On Friday, Iranian state media reported that Esmail Kousari — a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee and a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — warned that the UAE would “pay the price for its cooperation with the United States.” He accused the Emirates of playing a “behind-the-scenes” role in the recent U.S. strikes on Iran.

Throughout the conflict, Iran repeatedly accused Gulf Arab states of actively supporting the U.S. war effort — accusations those nations denied. The U.S. has maintained a significant military presence across Gulf Arab nations since the 1991 Gulf War, including in Bahrain, which serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Iran continues to insist it must have exclusive control of the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the U.S. is urging ships to take an alternate southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to steer clear of Iran. The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational body overseen by the U.S. Navy, issued a new advisory on Friday directing vessels to use that route. A similar advisory earlier in the week prompted an Iranian attack on Tuesday that resulted in three ships being struck.

“Notwithstanding recent unprovoked attacks on merchant vessels, mariners are reminded that the southern route of the (strait) has been expanded and remains available for all traffic,” the maritime center stated.

A Ukrainian court has ordered two men to remain behind bars without the possibility of bail after they were accused of killing a woman who was herself a suspect in a Monaco bombing, Ukraine’s top prosecutor announced Thursday.

The body of Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian national, was discovered with gunshot wounds to the head, with pistol cartridges found nearby. Ukrainian authorities made the announcement Tuesday, revealing that Berezovska had been sought by Interpol in connection with a June 29 bomb attack in Monaco.

Authorities identified the two men taken into custody as a current officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as HUR, and a former law enforcement officer. Both were detained on suspicion of carrying out the killing.

The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed Thursday that a Kyiv court formally ordered the pair held in detention, with no option for bail.

According to Ukrainian media reports citing court proceedings, the military intelligence officer has since recanted his confession. He claimed the other defendant was the one who fired the shots, and said he had only confessed because he feared for his own life.

The Monaco bombing on June 29 wounded Ukrainian-born property developer Vadym Yermolaiev, along with his partner and son, according to sources familiar with the case. Yermolaiev, who obtained Cypriot citizenship seven years ago, was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in 2023, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the year before.

Berezovska faced charges in Monaco that included attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public location with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy.

The European Union took direct aim at Meta on Friday, accusing the tech giant of violating the bloc’s social media regulations by engineering Facebook and Instagram in ways that keep users compulsively engaged — and ordering the company to shut down what it calls “key addictive features.”

The EU’s executive body, the European Commission, issued a new round of charges against Meta Platforms as part of an ongoing investigation under the Digital Services Act — a sweeping set of digital rules that requires technology companies to safeguard internet users or face steep financial penalties.

According to the commission’s preliminary findings, Meta failed to properly evaluate how its platform design affects the physical and mental well-being of users, including children. While Meta does offer tools to help people manage their time on Facebook and Instagram, regulators said those tools are too easy to bypass, too easily dismissed, or too technically complicated for most people to actually use.

The commission said Meta must make structural changes to both platforms — specifically disabling features such as autoplay video and infinite scrolling so they are not switched on by default.

Meta now has an opportunity to respond and make its case before the commission issues a final ruling. If found in violation, the company could face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual revenue.

In a statement released Friday, Meta said the preliminary findings fail to acknowledge what the company has already done to protect teenagers. “Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control — allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes,” the company said. “We share the European Commission’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive online experiences and will continue to engage constructively with them.”

Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice-president at the commission who oversees technology policy, said Europe remains firmly committed to holding platforms accountable for addictive design. “Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Virkkunen said in a written statement.

Regulators described how features such as personalized content recommendations and constant push notifications create a never-ending flow of material that puts users’ brains on “autopilot,” driving compulsive scrolling and viewing habits.

The commission also noted that parental screen time controls can be “easily dismissed” and do not lead to any meaningful reduction in how much time teens spend on the platforms. Regulators added that the controls demand a level of technical knowledge, time, and effort that puts them out of reach for many parents.

Among the additional changes the commission is pushing for: better prompts encouraging users to take breaks from screens, and an overhaul of the content recommendation system to make it less focused on maximizing user engagement.

Friday’s charges are the latest development in an investigation that Brussels launched in 2024 amid concerns that Meta was not doing enough to protect children online. Earlier this year, the EU announced that its probe found Meta was failing to prevent children under 13 — the minimum age required to use Facebook and Instagram — from creating accounts, and was not doing enough to find and remove underage users who had already signed up.

GENEVA (AP) — A minimum of 1 million women have been denied access to humanitarian assistance and other vital services over the past year and a half, according to the U.N. agency dedicated to women’s issues, which released the findings Friday.

The agency, UN Women, reports that 84% of women’s organizations it surveyed indicated they have seen growing demand for services since January 2025, when the United States — the largest contributor to the U.N. — began scaling back its foreign aid commitments under the Trump administration.

“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school and communities struggling to survive,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s chief of humanitarian action.

The survey results paint a troubling picture: nearly 90% of women’s groups said they are no longer able to meet current demand, and one out of every five organizations expects to shut their doors — either temporarily or for good — within the coming year.

“UN Women has spoken to 855 women’s organizations working in 52 countries, who have told us that these women and girls have been turned away due to funding cuts that are dismantling their organizations,” Calltorp told reporters in Geneva.

“We know that this number, at least 1 million women and girls, is just the tip of the iceberg,” she added.

UN Women also noted that conflict-related sexual violence doubled last year. The agency pointed to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — a group of 38 mostly developed nations — which found that global development assistance dropped by nearly 25% last year to $174 billion, marking the steepest single-year decline ever recorded.

“Without immediate action, the organizations that have kept women and girls alive through the world’s worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war,” Calltorp warned.

Across the broader United Nations system, thousands of jobs have been eliminated and aid programs have been scaled back worldwide over the last 18 months, driven largely by funding reductions from the United States and other major donor nations.

Meanwhile, the U.N. is also weighing whether to merge UN Women with UNFPA, the agency focused on sexual and reproductive health, as part of an ongoing organizational reform effort called UN80.

European Union regulators took formal action against Meta’s Instagram and Facebook on Friday, accusing the tech giant of violating the bloc’s digital rules by using features designed to keep users endlessly scrolling and engaged.

The European Commission announced its preliminary findings after a two-year probe conducted under the EU’s Digital Services Act — a sweeping law that requires major online platforms to take stronger steps against harmful and illegal content.

The Commission said Meta failed to properly evaluate the addictive dangers posed by highly personalized content recommendations, autoplay videos, and infinite scroll — tools that continuously serve users new material and encourage them to keep watching. Regulators also flagged that reels and stories on both Facebook and Instagram could contribute to compulsive or excessive use.

Officials criticized Meta’s existing safeguards as insufficient, noting that time management tools can be easily ignored and that parental controls demand considerable effort and technical know-how to use properly.

The Commission is calling on Meta to turn off features like autoplay and infinite scroll by default, introduce meaningful screen-time breaks, and make its content recommendation system less focused on maximizing user engagement.

Meta pushed back against the charges. Spokesperson Ben Walters said, “We disagree with these preliminary findings, which don’t accurately take into account the significant steps we’ve taken to protect teens.”

Walters added, “Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control — allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes.” The company said it would continue engaging constructively with EU officials.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told Reuters the matter is straightforward: “Our starting point is that, based on our findings, this design is too addictive and changes need to be made.” She warned, “The next step is either that Meta changes its design or a non compliance decision will follow.”

Meta could face fines of up to 6% of its total global annual revenue if found in violation. The company has the opportunity to respond to the charges before the Commission issues a final ruling in the months ahead.

The action against Meta comes just months after the Commission brought similar charges against TikTok in February, demanding comparable changes to that platform’s app. Last month, Meta also failed in its attempt to have claims dismissed from 29 U.S. state attorneys general alleging that Facebook and Instagram are addictive to children.

Regulators are separately looking into so-called “rabbit hole” effects caused by Facebook and Instagram’s recommendation algorithms, which can pull users deeper into prolonged viewing sessions through similar content suggestions. A separate case announced in April also directed Meta to do more to stop children under 13 from accessing its platforms.

The Commission is set to receive expert findings on Monday that could help lay the groundwork for a Europe-wide social media ban for teenagers — a move Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce during her September state of the union address.

Social media companies are facing increasing pressure worldwide as concerns mount that their platforms are fueling a mental health crisis among young people, with some governments already moving to restrict or ban underage access.

LONDON — A special by-election will be held on August 13 to fill the parliamentary seat vacated by Nigel Farage, the head of Britain’s populist Reform UK Party, according to the local governing authority, which made the announcement on Friday.

Farage stepped down from his seat earlier this week amid a parliamentary investigation into millions of pounds worth of gifts he allegedly received from wealthy donors. In explaining his resignation, Farage said he wanted the voters in his southeast England constituency to be the ones to evaluate his behavior — rather than what he described as a liberal “establishment” that he claimed was working to undermine him.

With rival parties declaring they will sit out the election — dismissing it as nothing more than a publicity stunt — Farage is expected to be the only major candidate on the ballot.

KHARTOUM — In the year since Sudan’s military recaptured its capital city from a paramilitary group that had seized control at the beginning of the country’s civil war in 2023, more than two million of the five million people who abandoned their Khartoum homes have made their way back.

Despite government promises of a swift return to normalcy following the military victory, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Electricity remains largely unavailable, structures damaged during the fighting still stand in disrepair, and many workers have not received their paychecks. A number of returnees say they came back not by choice, but out of desperation — driven home by a crackdown on refugees in neighboring Egypt.

The government had relocated its ministries and administrative offices to the coastal city of Port Sudan during the conflict. Officials have since ordered civil servants back to their desks in Khartoum. Students, who had been allowed to attend classes online and sit for exams at temporary locations in other cities or even overseas, have now been directed to return to their school buildings.

Nisreen Altayeb was among those who escaped to Egypt with her family. She made the decision to return after authorities there began cracking down on refugees around the beginning of this year.

“We left Sudan in the first place because of the lack of security, but then we started finding the same thing. It wasn’t safe in Egypt,” Altayeb said.

When word spread that conditions back home were improving, she and her family chose to return. Now she is trying to resume her career as a schoolteacher, but like many other government employees, she has yet to receive even her modest salary.

LIMITED SIGNS OF RECOVERY

Whatever recovery has taken shape has been largely confined to Omdurman, Khartoum’s neighboring city on the other side of the White Nile, where the army had kept a partial foothold throughout the conflict. Khartoum itself, along with Bahri city to the north, continues to operate with little to no electricity or basic services.

The RSF paramilitary group has kept up drone attacks on power stations and military sites around the capital, making the road to recovery even harder.

Altayeb Saadeldin, a spokesman for the Khartoum state government, said those ongoing strikes have reduced the capital’s electricity supply to just one-third of what it was before the war.

“That third is being distributed so we can provide people for 8 hours a day,” he said.

The University of Khartoum sits in one of the most heavily damaged sections of the city. Students who were told to return for in-person classes and exams have arrived to find laboratories, lecture halls, and dormitories still bearing the scars of war.

“The city needs work just like the university needs work,” said student Megdad Kammal.

University administrators say repair and rehabilitation work is underway ahead of the new semester expected later this year.

SMALL BUSINESSES CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Small business owners have also felt pressure to reopen, especially in Khartoum’s Souq al-Arabi, a large central marketplace that became a battlefield and was left riddled with land mines when the RSF pulled out.

While the authorities have resumed collecting taxes and other fees, many business owners say they still lack access to basic necessities like electricity.

“Our income is very low right now. They need to help us to come back, to encourage us to come back,” said Mohamed Abdelbasit, who runs a print shop. He argued that tax collection should be put on hold to give shopkeepers a chance to cover their expenses.

Saadeldin, the state government spokesman, acknowledged that some payment deferrals are being granted on a case-by-case basis. However, he noted that the cash-strapped state still needs revenue to keep basic services running, including public safety and the sewage system.

A devastating wildfire in southern Spain has killed at least 11 people, placing it among the most deadly fires ever recorded in the country, officials announced Friday as extreme heat continues to bake much of the nation.

The blaze, burning in the Almeria region, claimed several victims who were found inside charred vehicles. Eight additional people sustained injuries in the fire. A massive response effort is underway, with 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit working to bring the flames under control.

Regional emergency officials indicated that four British citizens appear to be among those killed. Andalusia’s regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno told the Cadena Ser radio station that 19 people remain unaccounted for. Authorities had initially reported 12 deaths but revised that figure down Friday morning.

The fire ignited in a small village situated in a dry, semi-arid zone near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains. While officials have not confirmed an official cause, callers who first reported the fire told authorities they believed a downed power line had ignited a blaze that quickly spread into a neighboring forest.

In addition to the human toll, the fire forced road closures and prompted the evacuation of approximately 1,000 residents from the area.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered his condolences, posting on X that he felt “immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria.”

Spain has faced increasingly severe and frequent heat waves in recent years, with temperatures regularly climbing above 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Dry conditions, high heat, and strong winds allow small fires to rapidly grow out of control. This past June, Spain endured several days of record-breaking heat, with more than 1,000 deaths linked to the extreme temperatures.

Parts of Western Europe are currently experiencing their third heat wave in just six weeks.

Europe is warming faster than any other continent on Earth, with temperatures rising at twice the global average rate since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Globally, 2025 ranked as the third-hottest year on record, bringing multiple intense heat events across the continent.

Scientists caution that climate change, driven in part by the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline, oil, and coal, is making heat waves and dry conditions more frequent and severe — leaving regions like southern Spain increasingly at risk for catastrophic wildfires.

Search teams with the Pakistan Navy have pulled additional wreckage from the Arabian Sea following the crash of a cargo plane earlier this week, as rescuers pressed into a third day Friday in their effort to find five missing crew members.

The Pakistan Airports Authority announced via social media platform X that the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency were continuing search-and-rescue operations in deep waters, deploying aircraft and other resources in a coordinated mission to locate the missing crew. The authority indicated further details would be released at a later time, and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

The aircraft, operated by Karachi-based private carrier K2 Airways, vanished from radar late Tuesday evening while on a flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates bound for Karachi, Pakistan. Before disappearing, the crew reported a malfunction in the plane’s navigation system.

The first pieces of debris were found Wednesday, approximately 100 kilometers — or about 60 miles — off the coastal town of Ormara along Pakistan’s southwestern Makran coast in Balochistan province. Despite those discoveries, the main body of the aircraft and all five crew members have yet to be found.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to deploy every available resource in the search for the missing crew. K2 Airways has also stated it is fully cooperating with civil aviation officials conducting the crash investigation.

Rescuers have faced significant challenges due to harsh weather conditions at sea, including rough waters, powerful winds, and shifting ocean currents that can spread floating debris across a wide area and make it harder to identify the precise crash location.

According to the Pakistan Airports Authority, radar data showed the plane made a sudden change in direction and dropped rapidly in altitude before all radio and radar contact was lost at approximately 9:21 p.m. Tuesday. At that point, the aircraft was roughly 287 kilometers — around 178 miles — west of Karachi.

Pakistan has a history of deadly aviation accidents spanning several decades.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song in the Chinese capital of Beijing on Friday, according to a report from CCTV, China’s official state television broadcaster.

London’s Metropolitan Police are looking into at least £500,000 — roughly $671,300 — in donations made to Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, according to a report from the Times newspaper. The funds in question were allegedly contributed by the mother of a close political associate of Farage who was convicted of wire fraud.

In an official statement, police confirmed the scope of the inquiry, saying they are examining potential violations of laws that govern political party donations. Those violations could include hiding the true source of funding or providing false information to a party treasurer.

“An investigation was launched in February 2025 after a referral was made to the Metropolitan Police by the Electoral Commission relating to donations made to a political party ahead of the 2024 UK General Election,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.

Authorities confirmed that two individuals have been interviewed as part of the investigation but stressed that no arrests have been made. Police declined to identify those connected to the donations under scrutiny.

The Times reported that investigators are focusing on payments made by Fiona Cottrell, the mother of George Cottrell, to Reform UK prior to the 2024 election. George Cottrell, described as a long-standing political ally of Farage, served prison time in the United States in 2017 after pleading guilty to wire fraud. He currently works in the cryptocurrency industry.

Farage has been under growing pressure for weeks over questions surrounding his party’s finances and his own financial dealings. Those questions include undisclosed gifts from a cryptocurrency billionaire investor and ties to Cottrell, who has a fraud conviction in the U.S.

Farage has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He has argued that he received a donation from the crypto investor before he formally announced his candidacy in the 2024 election and therefore was not required to disclose it.

In a surprising move earlier this week, Farage — a leading voice behind Brexit — announced he would give up his parliamentary seat and run for it again, framing the decision as a way to seek a public vote of confidence amid the ongoing scrutiny of his finances.

Greek anti-terrorist police announced Friday the arrest of three individuals tied to a string of firebomb attacks targeting conservative politicians — attacks that claimed one life and left four others injured.

The bombings took place in the early morning hours of July 1st in Thessaloniki, a major city in northern Greece. The targets were members of Greece’s ruling conservative New Democracy party. A homemade bomb constructed from camping gas canisters detonated beneath the car of parliamentary candidate Afroditi Nestora, which was parked outside her apartment building. The explosion killed Nestora’s 72-year-old mother.

Nestora herself sustained burns in the attack and remains in the hospital. She briefly left her hospital bed on Thursday to attend her mother’s funeral. Her father and two other residents of the building were also hurt in the blast.

Two additional bombings occurred the same night, also directed at New Democracy party members. Those attacks caused property damage but resulted in no injuries.

Greece has faced politically motivated violence for decades, stretching back to the 1970s. Domestic extremist groups have carried out small-scale bombings over the years, typically going after symbols of authority — including the homes and property of politicians, law enforcement, and other public figures. Crude devices made from camping gas canisters are commonly used, and while the attacks mostly result in material damage, deadly incidents do occur.

Although the most active groups from the 1980s and 1990s have been broken up, new organizations have continued to emerge in their place.

Police said a 29-year-old man was taken into custody in Thessaloniki, while a 26-year-old woman was arrested on the southern island of Crete. Both are suspected of direct involvement in the bombing at Nestora’s home. A third man was arrested on suspicion of sheltering the two suspects at his apartment before and after the attack. Authorities noted that the search for any additional suspects remains ongoing.

This latest incident is part of a broader pattern of politically motivated violence in Greece. In May 2025, a 38-year-old woman died in Thessaloniki when a bomb she was carrying exploded in her hands — authorities believe she had intended to plant it outside a bank. Two months after that, a bomb went off outside the Thessaloniki home of the president of Greece’s prison guards association. He was not hurt, though two bystanders suffered minor injuries from broken glass.

In April of last year, an explosion near the offices of Greece’s main railway company rocked a busy area of central Athens. No one was injured, but the attack came during a period of intense public anger over a 2023 rail disaster that killed 57 people. A newly emerged extremist group claimed responsibility. And in June 2024, a police officer assigned to protect a senior judge’s home in Athens was wounded in a gasoline bomb attack.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines marked the anniversary Friday of a 2016 international arbitration decision that invalidated China’s broad territorial claims in the South China Sea — a ruling that Washington and allied nations have repeatedly cited in pushing back against Beijing’s growing influence in the region.

China refused to participate in the arbitration process, which the Philippines launched in 2013, and has dismissed the July 12, 2016 decision by a tribunal formed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as illegitimate.

Despite the ruling, Beijing continues to assert control over nearly the entire sea passage — a critical global shipping corridor. Those claims are also disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, making the South China Sea one of Asia’s most volatile potential conflict zones.

Washington has repeatedly urged China to abide by the ruling. Both the previous Biden administration and the current Trump administration have stated that the United States is bound by treaty to come to the Philippines’ defense if Filipino forces, ships, or aircraft face an armed attack in the contested waters. The Philippines is described as the United States’ oldest treaty ally in Asia.

Clashes between Chinese and Philippine forces, as well as Chinese and Vietnamese forces and fishing fleets, have grown more frequent in recent years.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro spoke Thursday, describing the ruling as legally binding and likening it to a navigational beacon.

“When the waters grow turbulent, when unilateral claims cloud the horizon and when the shadow of coercion looms, nations need something far more permanent than political convenience,” Lazaro said. “They need a lighthouse.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also weighed in with criticism of China, stating that Australia would “continue to register our concerns about China’s vessels engaging in destabilizing and dangerous conduct in the South China Sea.”

China had not immediately responded publicly, but through a statement issued by its embassy in Manila, Beijing made clear it would never accept the ruling, calling it “illegal, null and void.”

“The award will not alter the historical and factual basis for China’s sovereignty over the islands of the South China Sea and their adjacent waters,” the Chinese embassy in Manila stated, adding that the decision “will not weaken China’s resolve and determination to safeguard its sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

The arbitration tribunal ruled largely in the Philippines’ favor, finding under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources” in the South China Sea beyond the standard territorial boundaries recognized under the convention.

That convention, widely considered the governing treaty for the world’s oceans, took effect in 1994 and has been ratified by more than 170 countries and parties, including both China and the Philippines.

BANGKOK — Three survivors of a deadly attack on a Thai cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz have taken legal action against the ship’s operator, filing a lawsuit Friday over alleged labor rights violations and wrongful termination.

The vessel, known as the Mayuree Naree, was struck by a projectile north of Oman on March 11. Three crew members died in the attack, while the remaining 20 were rescued and brought back to Thailand roughly a week afterward.

Former crew members Panithi Tumkaew, Noppadon Wongsuvan, and Surades Manpuen have named Precious Shipping Co., two of its affiliated companies, and the ship’s captain as defendants in the case.

According to their attorney, Kunpat Singhathong, the lawsuit claims the defendants put the crew’s lives at risk by choosing to navigate through the strait despite well-known security dangers in the area.

Kunpat explained that all three men were let go before finishing their nine-month employment contracts after the attack disabled the ship. Each received compensation equal to two months’ pay — an amount their lawyer says falls far short of what they deserve.

The reason the compensation is considered inadequate, Kunpat said, is that all three men have since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that has left them unable to return to work as sailors for the foreseeable future.

Greek counter-terrorism police have taken three people into custody in connection with a series of firebomb attacks on homes belonging to individuals linked to the country’s ruling party, according to the citizens’ protection ministry. The arrests were announced on Friday.

The attacks, which occurred earlier this month in the northern city of Thessaloniki, resulted in the death of a 72-year-old woman who was the mother of one of the governing party’s parliamentary candidates. She passed away from burn injuries sustained in one of the attacks, and four other people were also hurt.

Investigators say the attackers placed lit gas canisters outside three separate buildings. The first two incidents resulted in explosions that caused only property damage. The third attack, however, left five people injured, including the woman who would later die from her wounds at a hospital.

Authorities have connected Friday’s three suspects to that third attack but have not released additional details about the investigation.

Two of the buildings that were targeted contained apartments belonging to figures within the ruling New Democracy party, while the third property was owned by a local politician affiliated with the same party.

Political violence through bombings and arson has a long history in Greece spanning several decades, though in more recent years such attacks have generally resulted in property damage rather than casualties.

Deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has revealed plans to return from exile in India around December, alongside senior members of her political party, intending to voluntarily appear before the courts — despite facing a death sentence back home.

Speaking in an exclusive telephone interview with Reuters lasting nearly an hour, the 78-year-old said she and fellow members of the Awami League — currently a banned organization in Bangladesh — plan to go back to the country they escaped two years ago and present themselves to the justice system.

“They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” Hasina said during the late Thursday into Friday conversation.

“Still, I have to go,” she continued. “My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed.”

Hasina fled Bangladesh in 2024 after widespread protests brought an end to her 20-year run as prime minister across several terms. In November, the country’s war-crimes court handed down a death sentence against her in absentia, finding her responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied all charges while living in exile.

Her potential homecoming could deepen political fault lines in the garment-export nation as the government in Dhaka works to restore order after two turbulent years. At the same time, it could help ease the strained relationship between Bangladesh and India, which worsened significantly after New Delhi gave Hasina refuge. Bangladesh has repeatedly called on India to extradite her.

Hasina said she has not consulted any foreign government about the timing or decision to return. This interview represents the first time she has laid out a specific timeframe, stated her intention to surrender, or disclosed that other exiled Awami League figures would do the same. Among those also facing a death sentence is former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. Reuters was unable to reach the other party members or confirm their whereabouts.

“The authorities in Dhaka want to take me back, they are repeatedly sending letters to India seeking to have me sent back,” she said. “I will go myself.”

Spokespeople for the Bangladeshi government did not respond to requests for comment on Hasina’s statements. India’s foreign ministry also declined to respond, though in April the ministry indicated it was reviewing Bangladesh’s extradition request and expressed a desire to “engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties.”

Hasina spent half a century as a central figure in Bangladeshi politics, first thrust into public life after the assassination of her father — an independence leader — and most of her family during a military coup. She was once celebrated as a champion of democracy and credited with driving significant economic growth in the Muslim-majority country of 170 million people. However, her extended time in power drew accusations that her administration suppressed opposition and weakened democratic institutions — claims she rejects.

A United Nations report found that the crackdown that ultimately led to her removal from power killed as many as 1,400 people.

“Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding,” Hasina told Reuters from her exile residence in Delhi. “So I said that this time I am returning home, and one day, all of you should come. All together, we will all surrender in court.”

She stopped short of providing a specific date for her return or identifying which court she would surrender to.

“I believe in justice and I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is — and that I want to prove it,” she said.

Numerous Awami League members have reportedly faced arrest, legal action, and physical violence since her government was removed from power, according to media accounts and government officials.

Hasina said she has had no direct communication with Dhaka regarding her return plans. “Democracy, voting rights, the political rights of the Awami League and justice are not subjects for secret talks,” she said.

She expressed no fear about the prospect of imprisonment, noting she has been jailed multiple times throughout her political career. After returning from an earlier period of exile in 1981 following her father’s assassination, she was detained repeatedly while campaigning against military rule. She was imprisoned again in 2007 by a military-backed caretaker government on corruption charges, only to be released and go on to win elections in 2008.

Hasina said threats against her life as crowds moved toward her home were what ultimately drove her to flee Bangladesh this time around.

“When a government works for a long time, mistakes can happen — no government is above error,” she said. “But the right to judge the good and bad, the right and wrong of a government belongs to the people. I leave that judgment to the people.”

She noted that she has been holding virtual meetings covering 125 of Bangladesh’s 300 parliamentary constituencies as part of ongoing efforts to reorganize the Awami League.

“They may have convicted me, and I may not be able to contest elections,” she said. “But why should they suspend the Awami League? If we have done badly, let the people decide.”

Preliminary investigations into Tuesday’s twin bombings in Damascus — which occurred near a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying overnight — suggest the cell responsible was connected to Islamic State, according to a senior Syrian security official.

The two explosions wounded 18 people and cast a shadow over Macron’s visit to the Syrian capital, which marked the first trip to the country by a European Union head of state since the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power.

What Is Islamic State?

Islamic State is a Sunni Muslim extremist organization that rose to prominence in Iraq and Syria, eventually declaring a so-called “caliphate” — a form of Islamic government — and claiming authority over all Muslims worldwide. At its peak, the group largely supplanted al Qaeda as the dominant jihadist force.

Between 2014 and 2017, the group controlled vast stretches of Iraq and Syria, governing millions of people under its harsh interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. It maintained a base just a 30-minute drive from Baghdad and even held the Libyan coastal city of Sirte. The group carried out public executions and torture as tools of control, and its fighters either carried out or inspired attacks in dozens of cities across the globe.

A sustained military campaign led by a U.S.-led coalition eventually dismantled the caliphate in both countries.

Where Does It Operate Now?

After being driven out of its strongholds in the Syrian city of Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, Islamic State retreated into the rural interiors of both countries. Today, the group maintains a notable presence in Syria, Iraq, parts of Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Its fighters are spread across independent cells, its leadership operates in secrecy, and its total numbers are difficult to pin down. The United Nations estimates around 10,000 members remain in the group’s core territories.

Africa has emerged as the primary focus of Islamic State’s activities. The group’s African operations accounted for 86% of its global activity during the first three months of 2026, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a crisis monitoring organization. The largest faction, known as ISWAP, is based primarily in northeastern Nigeria, while other branches are active across the Sahel region, as well as in Somalia, Mozambique, and Congo.

In July, Morocco’s counterterrorism agency announced it had disrupted attack plots against sensitive sites and public security locations carried out by a cell loyal to Islamic State’s Sahel affiliate.

Many foreign fighters have gravitated toward the group’s Khorasan branch — known as ISIS-K — which takes its name from a historical term for a region encompassing parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.

In the Philippines, Islamic State-linked groups remain active in the southern part of the country, particularly in Mindanao, where pro-Islamic State militants seized control of the city of Marawi in 2017.

Recent Attacks

Leaders across the Middle East and their Western allies have raised alarms that Islamic State could use the 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government as an opportunity to reassert itself in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The group has declared a new operational phase in Syria, targeting the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Since February, it has carried out a series of attacks, including one that killed four Syrian government security personnel near Raqqa.

Since Assad’s removal from power, Islamic State has been reactivating dormant sleeper cells, scouting potential targets, and distributing weapons including guns, silencers, and explosives, according to sources who spoke with Reuters. A report by the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism revealed that President Sharaa and two senior cabinet ministers had been targeted in five foiled assassination attempts by the group.

Islamic State has also been linked to so-called lone-wolf attacks that are difficult to detect in advance. A 2025 shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach — described as Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years — raised concerns about the group’s influence on individual attackers. Police said Islamic State appeared to have influenced the gunmen, who killed 15 people.

In 2024, Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a concert hall near Moscow that left 149 people dead. The group has also been connected to several other planned attacks in southern Russia and Azerbaijan in recent years, a pattern that has alarmed intelligence agencies.

Goals and Tactics

Islamic State’s overarching goal remains the spread of its extreme interpretation of Islam and the establishment of rule over Muslims. However, the group has significantly changed its methods following the collapse of its territorial holdings and a series of other setbacks.

Iraqi security officials say the organization has undergone a major shift — transitioning from a conventional military-style force into a dispersed underground movement. Rather than massing fighters in large formations, the group now relies on hidden cells, loosely affiliated operatives, and discreet courier networks to communicate and coordinate attacks.

The group has also moved toward a more decentralized structure, giving smaller units and individual members greater independence and reducing dependence on direct orders from senior leadership. Intelligence sources on the ground in Iraq and Syria say this model has helped the group withstand ongoing counterterrorism efforts in the region.

Authorities in China are investigating a deadly fire at a shoe factory in Fujian province that killed 28 people, once again drawing attention to the country’s long-standing workplace safety challenges.

State-run Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that a search operation had concluded and an investigation into the cause of Thursday’s blaze was now underway. The fire destroyed the Fujian Huiteng factory located in Jinjiang, a major hub for sports shoe manufacturing.

Product listings on online retail and import platforms indicate that Fujian Huiteng produces footwear for both Chinese and international brands.

Video footage from local media captured a harrowing scene — workers stranded on the roof of the five-story building, surrounded by thick black smoke, while fire hoses struggled to reach the flames visible through upper-floor windows. Xinhua reported that the factory’s owner and managers were taken into custody and the company’s financial accounts were frozen.

At the time the fire broke out, 237 factory employees and two visitors were inside the building. Of the 213 people who were rescued, two later died at the hospital. An additional 26 individuals who had been reported missing were subsequently confirmed dead, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Workplace safety has remained a stubborn problem throughout China. In May, an explosion at a fireworks plant in Changsha, in the central province of Hunan, killed at least 37 people. In 2024, a fire at a refrigeration facility under construction in Xinyu, in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, took 39 lives.

Despite repeated government orders for businesses to identify and address workplace hazards, official figures show that 18,261 people died in nearly 20,000 workplace accidents across China in 2025 — a decrease from the prior year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a rapid investigation into the disaster, stating that authorities would “strictly hold those responsible accountable.”

Jinjiang is home to thousands of shoe manufacturers and has earned the nickname the “shoe capital” of China. The city produces roughly one-fifth of all athletic footwear globally — more than a billion pairs annually — according to state media and industry reports.

The region’s growth from small workshops into a major export powerhouse, which Xi has frequently referenced as the “Jinjiang Experience,” is widely regarded as a symbol of China’s rise as a global manufacturing leader.

CCTV reported that the fire originated on the building’s ground floor, where both a workshop and a warehouse were situated. A local fire department official told the state broadcaster that shoe sole materials that had been stacked in stairwells blocked firefighters from accessing the flames. Those shoe materials were described as highly flammable.

According to CCTV, fire crews deployed 183 personnel and 35 vehicles to the scene, and open flames were brought under control after approximately four hours. Xinhua later reported that more than 500 people participated in the overall rescue and search effort.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pushing governments and global lenders to make greater use of debt-for-education swaps, warning that a deepening education financing crisis is leaving hundreds of millions of students without adequate resources.

UNESCO unveiled new guidance on the debt swap mechanism at a global education summit held in Paris on Friday, making the case that the tool could help financially strained nations redirect money toward classrooms, teacher training, and student support programs.

The way these swaps work: a country refinances or buys back costly debt and then channels the resulting savings directly into education spending.

The World Bank has recently begun supporting such arrangements. UNESCO highlighted several bilateral examples already in use, including a 2023 agreement between France and Ivory Coast that helped finance the construction of more than 30 schools, as well as a Spain-Peru initiative that funded 50 education projects over a ten-year period.

The urgency of UNESCO’s push is underscored by alarming new data. According to the agency, 113 countries representing 6.1 billion people currently spend more on debt repayment than on education. In low-income nations, debt payments run nearly four times higher than what is spent on education. In 18 of the most heavily indebted countries, debt payments outpace education budgets by at least five to one.

The crisis is compounded by falling international support. UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report projects that worldwide aid to education could drop by as much as 30% between 2023 and 2027. Aid to education already fell 8% in 2024 compared to the prior year, while funding specifically for basic education dropped 15%.

Low- and lower-middle-income countries have already lost 21% of the education aid they received in 2023. Countries including Afghanistan, Liberia, Mali, and Niger have experienced declines exceeding 40%.

Education’s share of total global development assistance fell to 7.5% in 2024 — the lowest level recorded in twenty years, UNESCO said. The agency estimates that low- and lower-middle-income countries face an annual education funding shortfall of $97 billion.

UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany issued a stark warning about the situation. “Education is the most powerful investment countries can make, yet it is being systematically underfunded,” he said, calling on world leaders to increase political support for scaling up new and creative financing approaches.

The data and guidance were released at the Transforming Education Summit+4, a gathering of government ministers, development banks, and international organizations focused on measuring progress toward the United Nations’ goal of delivering inclusive, high-quality education to all people by 2030.

KYIV — Russia has found a way to defeat Ukraine’s carefully constructed defenses around its electrical infrastructure, using tiny drones guided by fiber-optic cables to slip through protective barriers and destroy critical power equipment in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy.

Open-source analysis has revealed footage of the new wave of attacks, which was posted on Russian social media platforms and verified by the Centre for Information Resilience, a London-based open-source investigation group. Reuters also independently confirmed the findings.

Throughout the war, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities, particularly in frontline areas. To counter this, Ukrainian authorities built massive concrete protective shells — known as sarcophagi — around high-voltage transformers and draped them with anti-drone netting. The frontline areas are also packed with electronic warfare equipment designed to knock out the radio signals that control enemy drones.

But a new class of small, agile First Person View (FPV) drones connected to operators via fiber-optic cable has rendered those electronic countermeasures useless. As long as the thin, nearly transparent cable remains intact and unobstructed, the drones are completely immune to signal jamming.

Joshua Scriven, an investigator at the Centre for Information Resilience, explained that Russian operators have been punching holes in the protective netting by sending one drone through first to break it open, then guiding a second drone through the gap. Since May, those drones have been maneuvering around the concrete sarcophagi and navigating through ventilation openings to reach the core piece of equipment inside: the autotransformer.

Destroying the autotransformer — valued at approximately $3.5 million in a 330-kilovolt substation — takes down the entire transformer unit, according to Oleksandr Kharchenko, head of the Energy Research Centre in Kyiv.

The Centre for Information Resilience has confirmed at least four successful strikes on large, well-protected 330 kV substations, along with at least four more hits on smaller 110 kV facilities with less protection. According to Deepstate, an independent organization that produces an online battlefield map, the targeted 330 kV substations are located between 16 and 26 kilometers — roughly 10 to 16 miles — from the front lines, highlighting the increasing operational range of these fiber-optic drones.

“I think why they’ve started using them is because of these protective sarcophagi. They protect against missiles and Shaheds,” Scriven said, referring to the heavy-duty drones Russia has previously used in attacks.

A fiber-optic FPV drone can be built for as little as $2,000. “The cost-benefit analysis there is staggering,” Scriven added.

He said the pattern of strikes suggests Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy: first isolating Ukrainian regions from the national power grid, then blacking them out entirely by hitting local power stations.

The Sumy region has endured intense Russian bombardment since the summer of 2024, when Ukraine launched a cross-border offensive into Russian territory from the province. That push was eventually repelled, after which Russia launched its own incursion into Sumy.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said the security situation in the region had worsened in June. “Russia’s goal is to terrorise people and make life in the border regions unbearable,” he wrote.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against senior Russian military commanders in connection with attacks on Ukraine’s power grid between 2022 and 2023. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians and maintains that all of its strikes serve a military purpose.

China’s military fired a ballistic missile equipped with a dummy warhead from one of its nuclear-powered submarines into the southern Pacific Ocean on Monday, giving the country’s leadership a rare chance to assess some of the most complex and secretive aspects of its growing nuclear deterrent, according to analysts and diplomats.

Experts say the ability to command, control, and maintain communications with nuclear-armed submarines operating in secret presents enormous challenges — a concern that weighs heavily on the Chinese Communist Party leadership, for whom military loyalty is a top priority.

“This aspect is certainly something that would have been very much evaluated, besides looking at the actual technical capabilities of the missile and submarine,” said Collin Koh, a security scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Koh added: “There are still challenges ahead but it would seem they are getting close to an operational strike capability here…they are probably trying to demonstrate that even if they can’t get into a position to hit the continental U.S., they could still target Guam and Hawaii.”

The United States characterized the weapon as an intercontinental ballistic missile that came down in the southern Pacific Ocean. Chinese state media and government officials, however, described the launch as a “routine” military exercise that was not aimed at any particular country or target and was carried out professionally. China’s defense ministry did not respond to questions from Reuters.

Monday’s test was China’s most notable long-range ballistic missile launch since September 2024, when the People’s Liberation Army fired a missile into the southern Pacific from a mobile launcher located on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

Analysts and academics identified the submarine involved as one of China’s six Type-094 nuclear-powered submarines, known as SSBNs — large vessels designed to launch nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. Chinese state media confirmed it was a strategic missile submarine but did not name the specific class.

Military observers say China’s SSBN operations, which are based out of Hainan Island, are among the most carefully watched components of the country’s military modernization effort. These submarines are central to China’s nuclear deterrent strategy by ensuring what is known as a second-strike capability — meaning China could retaliate even if its land-based nuclear weapons were wiped out in an enemy first strike. This is considered especially significant given China’s official policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

The U.S. and its allies work to monitor Chinese submarines using naval ships, underwater sensor networks at key ocean passages, and surveillance aircraft including the P-8 Poseidon, which carries advanced maritime detection equipment. Such monitoring efforts are expected to grow as China’s submarine capabilities improve.

A 2022 Pentagon report stated that China had begun conducting near-continuous deterrence patrols with its SSBNs. The U.S., Russia, France, and Britain have maintained similar nuclear patrol capabilities for decades, and India is currently developing its own fleet of SSBNs.

A study released this week by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based research organization, noted that while U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed that China’s submarines carry nuclear warheads during patrols, some officials have told the study’s authors so in private conversations.

The study also noted that “President Xi Jinping’s purge of military officials — including leaders of the People’s Liberation Army’s rocket force — make it seem unlikely that nuclear warheads would be handed over to the military under normal circumstances.”

The exact location of Monday’s launch and the specific missile used have not been confirmed. However, analysts note that for a Chinese submarine to reach the continental United States using its most advanced submarine-launched missile — the JL-3 — it would need to travel beyond the South China Sea into the western Pacific, where it could risk detection by rival naval forces.

The JL-3, believed to carry multiple warheads and publicly displayed during a military parade in Beijing in September 2025, has a reported range of 10,000 kilometers, or about 6,214 miles. The Type-094 submarine is expected to eventually be replaced by a quieter, more advanced model currently in development.

China’s state-affiliated Global Times newspaper said the missile launch demonstrated the country’s ongoing effort to strengthen its “nuclear triad” — the capacity to deploy nuclear weapons from land, sea, and air. An editorial in the publication stated: “This will compel external powers and their followers to abandon attempts aimed at forcing Chinese concessions through maximum military pressure or pre-emptive strikes, thereby fundamentally reducing the risk of large-scale conflict.”

Ten years ago, the Philippines scored a major legal win against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea — but for the fishermen of Masinloc who once relied on Scarborough Shoal for their livelihoods, that victory has meant very little on the water.

The shoal, one of the most fiercely disputed stretches of ocean in Asia, has remained under China’s effective control since 2012. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration — an international tribunal — determined that Beijing’s broad maritime claims had no legal foundation. The tribunal also noted that the shoal’s waters, known to China as Huangyan Dao, are traditional fishing grounds used by several nations including the Philippines, China, and Vietnam. However, the ruling stopped short of determining which country holds sovereignty over the shoal itself.

Fishermen from the coastal town of Masinloc once tried to access the shoal under the cover of darkness, hoping to avoid Chinese vessels. Now, many say they’ve stopped going altogether, citing an intensified Chinese effort to block and chase them away.

Rony Drio, 59, hasn’t returned to the area since 2024. His fellow fisherman Henrilito Empoc, 47, last visited in 2022. Both men now fish much closer to shore.

When news of the 2016 ruling spread, Empoc said the reaction among fishermen was one of hope. “When we heard that we had won, what came to our minds and hearts was the freedom to fish again and the hope of a better livelihood,” he recalled.

That hope, however, quickly faded. Empoc says he has witnessed Chinese vessels fire water cannons at Filipino fishing boats, and has had his anchor lines cut by Chinese personnel in efforts to force him out. “They took away our right to fish,” said Empoc, who now drives a motorized tricycle taxi to help make ends meet.

Drio described an incident from a few years ago in which Chinese personnel ordered him and another fisherman out of the shoal’s lagoon. Because the water was too shallow for their boat, the two men were forced to drag it over jagged coral. “The coral hurt our feet, but what hurt more was what they were doing to us,” he said.

China’s embassy in Manila did not respond to a request for comment on the fishermen’s allegations. Beijing has consistently refused to recognize the tribunal’s ruling, maintaining that it holds “indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island and its adjacent waters.”

Scarborough Shoal has remained a persistent flashpoint between Manila and Beijing. Earlier this year, tensions flared again after China installed a floating barrier at the entrance to the shoal’s lagoon — a structure that was eventually removed following protests from the Philippines. Beijing has also floated a proposal to turn the shoal into a nature reserve, a plan Manila has condemned as a “clear pretext for occupation.”

Diplomats and analysts have expressed concern that ongoing confrontations in the South China Sea could spiral into armed conflict. In June 2024, a Filipino sailor lost a finger during a violent clash with the Chinese coast guard while on a resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines maintains a grounded warship.

Philippine officials argue the tribunal’s ruling has bolstered the country’s legal standing and supported a policy of publicly documenting confrontations at sea. The decision has also helped expand defense ties with allies, including deepened military and maritime cooperation with the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Jay Batongbacal, director at the Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, said China’s aggressive behavior has actually worked against its own interests. “Without China’s actions, the number of allies and security partners for the Philippines definitely would not have increased,” he said.

But for fishermen like Drio and Empoc, geopolitical gains offer no comfort. “We won in 2016, but it doesn’t feel like a victory to me,” Drio said.

Russian authorities reported Friday that a drone strike set fire to the Ilsky oil refinery located in the southern Krasnodar region, while a separate attack on the city of Taganrog prompted officials to evacuate nearby residents.

According to preliminary reports from local officials, no one was hurt in either incident.

In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its targeting of Russian energy facilities and other key infrastructure as part of its strategy to weaken Moscow’s ability to sustain its war effort. The Ilsky refinery, which has a processing capacity of roughly 138,000 barrels of oil per day, has been the target of multiple attacks in the past.

These repeated strikes on fuel-processing facilities have contributed to fuel shortages throughout Russia, with long lines forming at gas stations and prices rising across the country.

In Russia’s Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar announced via Telegram that crews were working to extinguish fires at two separate fuel depots as well as at the Taganrog sea port.

Taganrog Mayor Svetlana Kambulova posted on the Max messaging app that residents living in the affected neighborhoods had been evacuated from their homes. She noted that a private residence sustained damage and that the roof of an administrative building also caught fire.

Russia’s Defence Ministry stated that air defense units had shot down 376 Ukrainian drones during the overnight assault.

JOHANNESBURG — Anger over joblessness, crime, and years of sluggish economic growth has been driving a wave of anti-migrant protests across South Africa. But economists are sounding the alarm: pushing out foreign workers could actually harm the very businesses and job markets that protest organizers claim they want to defend.

Anti-migrant feelings have been growing sharply in recent months, reaching a peak with a nationwide demonstration on June 30. While the protests were mostly peaceful, the threat of violence has been enough to send thousands of African migrants packing and leaving South Africa behind.

Their exit, economists say, threatens to leave serious gaps in industries that have depended heavily on foreign labor — including construction, farming, delivery services, and small neighborhood shops — while also weakening the country’s large informal economy.

Mpho Lenoke, a lecturer at North-West University, explained that migrants tend to fill roles that are hard to staff. “Migrants typically find work in sectors where vacancies are difficult to fill, including farming, construction, hospitality, retail, transport and the informal sector,” Lenoke said.

United Nations figures show that approximately 2.6 million migrants were living in South Africa as of 2024, making up roughly 5% of the total population. Although current data on their economic impact is limited, estimates from the OECD and ILO based on 2010 modeling put migrants’ contribution to the country’s GDP at around 9%.

Lenoke also noted the broader benefits migrants bring. “Many foreign nationals are starting businesses that employ South Africans and bring competition, which is good for consumers,” she said. “International experience suggests that restrictions on migrant labour often have unintended economic consequences.”

The protests have already caused visible disruptions in parts of the retail world. Foreign-owned spaza shops — informal convenience stores typically run out of garages, makeshift stalls, or shipping containers — play a significant role in South Africa’s informal economy, supporting wholesalers, property owners, and local workers alike.

Sixty60, the grocery delivery service operated by Shoprite Group, Africa’s largest food retailer, experienced service disruptions during the most recent wave of protests. According to company figures, fewer than one in four of its delivery drivers held South African citizenship.

The anti-migrant movement has been gaining strength for years as South Africa has struggled with weak economic performance. The World Bank lowered its 2026 growth forecast for the country to 1.0% in June, down from a previous estimate of 1.4%. Meanwhile, Statistics South Africa reported an unemployment rate of nearly one-third during the first quarter of the year, leaving 8.1 million people out of work.

Those difficult conditions have stoked resentment toward migrants. However, a study conducted by the International Labour Organization using labor force survey data found that when immigrant participation in the workforce rises, job opportunities for South African-born workers tend to increase as well.

Beyond the labor market, protests themselves can damage the economy through looting and forced business closures, according to Susanna Deetlefs of ACLED. “Supply chains are disrupted, jobs are lost, and access to goods and services is curtailed when tensions escalate,” she said.

So far, investors have not panicked, but they are taking note of the growing unrest as a new risk factor. “It is a significant social problem in South Africa that investors keep hearing about, but they actually haven’t seen an actual real-life impact of it,” said Kaan Nazli, an emerging markets debt portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman. “Now, with these protests, this is a risk.”

The consequences stretch well beyond South Africa’s borders. According to ILO data, South Africa is the region’s primary source of remittances and its largest host of working-age migrants. A joint report from FinMark Trust and the South African Reserve Bank found that money sent out of the country more than tripled between 2016 and 2024, reaching over 19 billion rand — approximately $1.16 billion — in 2024.

Nearly 90% of those transfers to southern Africa went to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, with Zimbabwe alone receiving more than 60% of the total amount.

As evening fell over the fields of Gurdaspur, India, villagers crowded into the courtyard of a Sikh temple to watch a film that Indian authorities have blocked from public view.

The movie, called “Satluj,” is based on the true story of a human rights activist who uncovered thousands of cases of disappearances and unlawful killings during a government crackdown on a separatist movement in India’s Punjab state during the 1980s and early 1990s.

At the Gurdaspur screening, elderly survivors of the insurgency sat alongside teenagers who were born long after the conflict had ended. When the film began to play, the crowd went completely quiet.

Originally released under the title “Punjab 95,” the movie spent three years in limbo after India’s censor board demanded more than 120 changes. Unable to secure a traditional theatrical release, it eventually debuted on the ZEE5 streaming service — but was pulled from the platform in India just two days later.

That removal sparked an unexpected response.

Throughout villages across Punjab, Sikh organizations, local activists, and ordinary residents began setting up community screenings using copies of the film that had been shared online. Temple grounds and village gathering spaces were transformed into open-air theaters, where audiences came not only to watch a movie but to witness a retelling of one of India’s most painful internal conflicts.

“Satluj” is drawn from the life of rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, whose investigation into alleged unlawful killings brought to light one of the darkest chapters in Punjab’s history. The conflict saw Sikh militant groups fighting for an independent Khalistan go up against Indian security forces, with thousands of civilians, militants, and police officers losing their lives.

During that period, human rights groups documented claims of forced disappearances, killings in custody, and secret cremations. Khalra’s investigation alleged that thousands of people who had vanished were cremated by police in secret, without notifying families or keeping any official records.

Khalra was abducted in 1995 and subsequently killed. A number of police officers were later convicted in connection with his murder.

Though the insurgency was ultimately suppressed and support for Khalistan diminished within Punjab, the Indian government still considers separatist sentiment a national security threat. Officials have not publicly explained why the film was removed, but told local media outlets it was taken down for security reasons.

The community screenings are organized through grassroots effort. Residents supply projectors, speakers, and power generators. Sikh temples and village community spaces serve as makeshift outdoor theaters for the evening, and volunteers spread news of each event door to door.

Inderjeet Singh Bains, who helps coordinate screenings in the Gurdaspur district, said the goal is to create spaces where people can come together, watch the film, and reflect on a period of Punjab’s history that still resonates across generations.

“When we screen the film, we see our elders and mothers, many of them 60 or 70 years old, crying because they have lost their sons. Our people have endured immense suffering,” Bains said.

Gurmukh Singh, who attended one of the screenings, said the film gave a voice to stories that younger people in Punjab had only heard in pieces. For families in his village, he said, the insurgency is not a distant historical event but a lived reality — many lost loved ones to the violence.

“After watching the movie, there is a feeling of the grief our earlier generations had to bear,” Singh said.

The removal of “Satluj” has reignited a broader conversation about freedom of artistic expression in India, where films have increasingly faced censorship battles under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. Critics say such conflicts have grown more common and accuse the government of favoring films that fit its nationalist message.

“Everything happened right before our eyes, so what is there to oppose? The truth is coming to light, and people should be allowed to see it,” said Balwinder Singh, a Sikh religious leader.

The government maintains that film certification decisions are made independently and in accordance with the law.

In a statement, ZEE5 said the film would no longer be available for viewing in India “in light of current developments,” but added that it would pursue “every appropriate avenue through due process” to have it restored.

Diljit Dosanjh, the lead actor who portrays Khalra in the film, said he is not worried about whether the movie remains available online, because once people have seen it, “it cannot be erased.”

That idea appears to be taking hold across Punjab’s villages.

Inside the temple courtyard in Gurdaspur, viewers watched scenes depicting police killings, crackdowns, and families desperately searching for answers. After the film ended, many stayed behind to talk, comparing what they had seen on screen with memories they had carried for decades.

Pawan Deep Kaur described the film as a heartbreaking portrayal of the suffering endured by the older generation.

“It made us cry endlessly,” she said.

LONDON — In what felt more like a scene from a heist film than a museum loan, the Bayeux Tapestry quietly arrived at the British Museum in the middle of the night Friday — marking the first time the irreplaceable medieval masterpiece has been on English ground in nearly a millennium.

The elaborate, high-security operation was shrouded in secrecy from start to finish. Every detail of the tapestry’s transport had been kept tightly under wraps due to security concerns, and the slightest mishap could have had catastrophic consequences for the fragile, ancient work.

“It feels extraordinary that after so much work and planning and care and thought that it’s actually happening,” said British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan, who was on hand to witness the arrival. “It’s the first time in 1,000 years that such an important piece of British — French too — history is going to be on these shores. It’s incredibly exciting.”

The tapestry, which stretches 70 meters (230 feet) in length, was folded accordion-style and placed inside a climate-controlled case, which was then secured within a shock-absorbing cradle. The whole assembly was loaded onto a truck that made the crossing from France via a vehicle shuttle train through the Channel Tunnel.

The journey covered 350 miles (560 kilometers) over 11 hours, with a police escort accompanying the truck the entire way. Upon reaching the museum, workers carefully lowered the container — roughly the size of a small car — to the ground inside a loading bay. Museum staff, along with British and French diplomats who had gathered in hushed anticipation, erupted in applause when it safely arrived.

Before the tapestry can be unpacked and put on display, it will spend several days adjusting to its new environment. The British Museum expects the exhibition, which opens September 10 and runs through July 2027, to rank among the most popular in the institution’s history. Demand for tickets was staggering — 100,000 were snapped up on the first day they became available this month.

“It was like trying to get tickets to Glastonbury,” Cullinan said. “I don’t take for granted that people care that much about a 1,000-year-old embroidery. I think that’s an amazing thing.”

The artwork, crafted from wool thread stitched onto linen fabric, chronicles the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. That was when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harald’s Anglo-Saxon army, ending Saxon rule and establishing William the Conqueror as the first Norman king of England.

Historians believe the tapestry was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who was William’s half brother, and was likely sewn by women in England — possibly nuns — before being transported across the Channel. For most of the past thousand years, it has resided in the town of Bayeux in northwestern France, with only two brief stays at the Louvre in Paris.

Securing the loan was itself a significant diplomatic achievement. The arrangement was announced during a state visit to the United Kingdom by French President Emmanuel Macron in July 2025, and it coincides with renovation work at the French museum where the tapestry is normally housed.

As part of the agreement, the British Museum will send items from the Sutton Hoo hoard — artifacts recovered from a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial — along with other objects, on loan to museums in Normandy.

Retired British diplomat Peter Ricketts, who served as the U.K.’s special envoy for the tapestry and helped broker the deal, called it “an extraordinary mark of friendship and confidence in the U.K. to entrust this object to us for a year.”

Ricketts also shared his view of why the French president agreed to the loan: “Macron, when he offered us the tapestry, I think he understood that it would have far more impact in the U.K. than it does in France, because it’s more fundamental to our national story. Everybody (in Britain) knows 1066.”

The tapestry is remarkably detailed, featuring 627 people and 737 animals spread across 58 scenes. The imagery ranges from battlefield combat to mutilated bodies, including the famous depiction of King Harold being struck by an arrow through his eye.

“It has an emotional richness that is really difficult to get from written sources,” said Millie Horton-Insch, the project curator for the British Museum exhibition. “It just brings people closer to this history than any other object can. It’s not the same as reading a text. You are looking at something that was handled by the people who lived through it and felt compelled to record these events in this way.”

Horton-Insch also marveled at the tapestry’s survival across ten centuries of threats she described as “moths, mice, mold damp, fire,” suggesting its humble materials may have actually helped protect it.

“It’s not really made of any blingy fabric,” she said. “It’s not gold, it’s not silver. There wasn’t the same temptation to cut it up and make it into vestments or repurpose it for anything.”

Not everyone supported the move. Some French cultural figures argued that transporting the tapestry posed too great a risk. Cullinan said expert teams conducted two full trial runs of the journey beforehand to confirm the fragile piece could withstand the stress of travel.

“Such care has gone into it. I can’t think of a level of care for any other museum loan,” he said, adding that he understands why people have concerns. “The tapestry arouses great interest and passion. Which is a wonderful thing.”

MANILA — The Philippines announced Friday that an upcoming gathering of Southeast Asian foreign ministers will take up Myanmar’s devastating civil war and the question of how the regional bloc might restore ties with the country after a five-year freeze.

As the current chair of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines will host Sunday’s meeting in Bangkok — the first face-to-face session with Myanmar’s top diplomat since a military coup in 2021 set off a conflict that led to the ruling generals being barred from ASEAN summits.

That coup, carried out by an army that has governed Myanmar for five of the last six decades, unleashed widespread turmoil. A violent crackdown on protesters spiraled into a full-scale civil war, in which an estimated 100,000 people have lost their lives and millions more have been forced from their homes. The military has faced accusations of committing widespread atrocities, allegations it continues to deny.

Myanmar is now governed by a nominally civilian administration following elections held earlier this year. Former armed forces commander and junta leader Min Aung Hlaing now serves as president.

The Philippine foreign ministry emphasized that Myanmar remains a full member of ASEAN and clarified that Sunday’s session will be informal in nature. It will give Myanmar’s foreign minister an opportunity to brief regional counterparts on conditions inside the country.

According to a statement from the ministry, participants “are expected to exchange views on ASEAN’s engagement with Myanmar, as well as on possible concrete steps in which Myanmar may address concerns on the cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among concerned parties, and humanitarian assistance.”

Min Aung Hlaing has been working to break the deadlock with ASEAN and last week made his first official state visit to a fellow ASEAN member nation. A central reason for Myanmar’s exclusion from the bloc has been his failure to follow through on a “five-point consensus” he agreed to with ASEAN after the coup, which laid out a path toward de-escalation and dialogue between the warring factions.

However, efforts to normalize relations face a new obstacle. Myanmar’s military-aligned parliament has advanced a motion pushing back against that peace plan, labeling it interference in the country’s internal affairs and a breach of ASEAN’s foundational principles.

A lengthy front-page article published Friday in the Global New Light of Myanmar, the military’s official newspaper, reported that lawmakers had backed a resolution urging the government to challenge and review ASEAN’s stance.

The newspaper reported that “lawmakers from both houses largely supported the motion, arguing that ASEAN should reassess its position on Myanmar following political developments and the formation of a new elected government.”

A curated photo gallery covering the week of July 3 through July 9, 2026 offers a striking look at some of the most powerful moments across Latin America and the Caribbean.

On the soccer pitch, fans of Mexico and Brazil were left disappointed after both nations fell to England and Norway, respectively, during the World Cup knockout round. Meanwhile, Argentine supporters took to the streets in celebration after their team edged out Egypt in a thrilling 3-2 victory.

In Venezuela, communities continue to reel from twin earthquakes that struck two weeks ago. Recovery teams have pulled additional bodies from the debris as displaced residents work to piece their lives back together.

Across the water in Cuba, residents navigated their daily routines in darkness as a blackout left the entire island without power.

The gallery was put together by photo editor Leslie Mazoch, working out of Mexico City.

HONG KONG (AP) — Dog owners in Hong Kong are celebrating a long-awaited change that lets them bring their pets along when they go out to eat. The city has lifted a restriction that had been on the books since 1994, which limited restaurant access to only guide dogs and animals performing official duties.

The new policy, designed to foster a more pet-friendly culture, took effect Thursday and covers more than 900 restaurants participating in the first phase of the rollout.

This is one of several recent moves Hong Kong has made toward becoming more animal-inclusive. The city now permits pets on select ferry routes and certain metro train lines that serve rural areas, and public hospitals have begun allowing animals to visit patients receiving end-of-life care.

City officials report that more than 240,000 households — roughly 9% of all homes in Hong Kong — have at least one pet cat or dog, with the total number of pets exceeding 400,000.

At Wan Land Cafe, owner Kelvin Chan posted a sign letting customers know dogs are now welcome inside. Before the rule change, dogs could only be in the outdoor seating area, which posed problems during Hong Kong’s sweltering summer months.

Chan doesn’t expect the policy to dramatically increase his business, but as a dog owner himself, he sees it as an opportunity to shift attitudes. He acknowledged that while pet lovers are enthusiastic about the change, people who aren’t accustomed to dining near dogs may need some time to adjust.

He believes that well-behaved pets and responsible owners will gradually help those who are less comfortable with animals come around to the idea.

A catastrophic wildfire burning in the Almeria region of southern Spain has claimed the lives of 12 people, the Emergency Agency of Andalucía confirmed in an early Friday announcement.

Antonio Sanz, the Minister of the Presidency, Health, and Emergencies, described the disaster in stark terms, calling it “the most devastating fire to date in our region” and labeling the situation an “unprecedented tragedy.”

More than 150 firefighters have been mobilized in an effort to bring the blaze under control.

Initial reports had placed the death toll at six. Juanma Moreno, who leads Spain’s southern Andalusia region, addressed those earlier confirmed deaths in a post on X, writing: “Our deepest condolences to the families of the six people who lost their lives in the Los Gallardos and the affection from all of us to the municipalities affected by the fire.”

RISHON LEZION, Israel — With GPS coordinates marked and an anchor tossed overboard, an orange buoy bobbed to the surface as a team of Israeli divers geared up on the bow of a research vessel. They pulled on wet suits, ran checks on their oxygen tanks, and slipped beneath the Mediterranean waves.

After spending hours searching the seafloor for yellow-painted practice mortar shells, however, the team came up with nothing.

It was the fifth dive in a multi-year research effort designed to help Israel figure out how to safely remove unexploded grenades and other munitions from the sea — and eventually return a stretch of beach to local residents. But that day in June, the dummy shells the team had placed months earlier were nowhere to be found, offering a preview of the enormous challenges that lie ahead.

“It’s really hard to find things in the sea,” said Roy Jaijel, a researcher in the marine geology and geophysics department at Israel’s National Institute of Oceanography, after surfacing from the dive.

Jaijel is co-leading a project focused on reclaiming roughly 2 kilometers, or about 1.2 miles, of shoreline in the central Israeli city of Rishon LeZion — a stretch that has functioned as a military firing range for decades. The initiative is the first of its kind in Israel and aligns with a worldwide effort to better safeguard oceans and seas as global demand grows for their use in shipping, energy production, and recreation.

According to experts, the issue of underwater munitions has drawn increasing attention in part because of the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, which depends on millions of kilometers of fiber-optic cables running along the ocean floor to keep the world connected.

Munitions end up underwater in a variety of ways — dumped after wars, lost during active conflict, or, as in Rishon LeZion’s case, left behind from years of military training exercises. Over time, seawater erodes the shells, causing toxic chemicals, explosive compounds, and heavy metals to leak out and contaminate the surrounding environment. There is also the danger of an accidental detonation if someone steps on one — or if a child picks one up, mistaking it for a toy.

Two years ago, Europe launched a program to better detect and remove non-military unexploded ordnance from industrial and commercial sites. In a separate effort in 2024, Germany began a pilot program to collect and dispose of military debris in the North and Baltic Seas, where the German government estimates some 1.6 million tonnes of unexploded munitions from two world wars still rest on the seafloor.

Despite these efforts, there has been comparatively little focus on clearing munitions from Middle Eastern waters, including the Mediterranean, which has historically seen fewer large-scale dumping events than European seas.

Project leaders in Israel say their work is among the first to specifically address the challenge of clearing smaller munitions in complex underwater environments — a task that many countries have steered clear of entirely.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Israel Faintuch, head of the Maritime Division at Israel’s Ministry of Defense National Mine Action Authority, as he checked his oxygen tank and prepared to dive.

The Israeli government says that nearly half of the country’s 194-kilometer, or 120-mile, coastline is closed to the public, taken up by commercial ports, power stations, desalination plants, military installations, and firing zones.

Since Israel’s founding nearly 80 years ago, 7 kilometers — roughly 4.3 miles and nearly the entire length of Rishon LeZion’s shoreline — has been used as a military firing range. Grenades and both small and large mortars have been launched there over the years, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents squeezed onto a narrow band of accessible beach.

The joint research project, which launched last year, is funded by the Rishon LeZion municipality and is being led by Israel’s National Mine Action Authority alongside researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography. The goal is to identify the most heavily affected areas, map where the munitions are concentrated, and determine how far out to sea and how deep the clearance effort will need to go.

To collect data, divers place fake munitions of varying sizes — some fitted with motion sensors — at depths of 5, 10, and 15 meters (16, 33, and 59 feet) and at distances up to 1.2 kilometers, or about 0.75 miles, from shore. After several months, the team retrieves the devices, studies the data, and then deploys a new set.

In June, Associated Press journalists joined the team underwater as divers placed a fresh round of test munitions and attempted to recover ones left behind in January. The divers used a string or measuring tape to navigate along the seafloor, tapping each other and pointing in different directions as they swept their hands across the sandy bottom in search of the hidden objects.

“You have limited air supply when you go with the divers and you have limited time in the water,” said Dafna Eliahu, a graduate student working on the project. “So with actual live munition I expect it to be very difficult, very hard to locate and to actually be able to find them.”

Eliahu noted that while the data from the sensors is still being analyzed, early results suggest the munitions moved less than anticipated — a potentially encouraging sign that the area requiring clearance may be smaller than originally feared.

Israel’s Defense Ministry is aiming to collect enough data to begin actual clearance operations by the end of next year, with an initial goal of opening up 150 meters, or about 492 feet, of shoreline within a few months after that. Completing the full project will take years and is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars. Progress has already been set back by Israel’s multiple military conflicts — including wars with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran — since divers cannot work when missiles are being fired and may land in the sea.

During the current war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran, as well as a 12-day conflict last June between Israel and Iran, the military acknowledged that missiles aimed at larger cities including Rishon LeZion fell into the sea, though officials declined to say how many.

Israeli authorities say no one has been killed or injured by unexploded sea ordnance, but roughly a dozen sightings of suspicious devices over the past 20 years have prompted responses from police and military units. Most of those objects were found on or near the shoreline.

Beyond expanding beach access for local residents, Israel also hopes the research will generate new knowledge about munitions clearance in this part of the world, where threats exist but relatively little data has been gathered.

According to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, more than half of all global incidents involving unexploded ordnance — including sightings and drifting mines — were recorded in the Middle East between 2014 and 2023. The majority occurred in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen and in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, largely as a result of Yemen’s civil war.

Pedro Basto, research and innovation program manager with the organization, stressed the importance of keeping attention focused on the removal of underwater explosives given how much modern society depends on the seas.

“Both renewable energies based on the sea (wind turbines and harnessing water currents) and the global connectivity that most of the world relies on every minute of every day, depend massively on underwater cable laying,” he said.

As the project moves forward, residents of Rishon LeZion say they are eager for the day when more of their coastline becomes accessible.

Moria Malka, head spokesperson for the city’s municipality, said the clearance effort will triple the amount of available coastline in the area, with much of it set to become a nature reserve as well as residential space near the water. For beachgoers like Mark Kostman, that prospect is welcome news.

“Holidays and Saturdays, all of this place is completely crowded and too dense to even have fun,” Kostman said while playing volleyball with his children near the firing zone. “Having it as public space for leisure and sport … it’s wonderful.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States carried out new airstrikes against Iran in the early hours of Thursday, and Iran struck back by targeting American-allied nations across the Middle East — a dangerous exchange that has put a shaky interim ceasefire agreement at serious risk of collapse.

While similar back-and-forth attacks have threatened the ceasefire on previous occasions, Thursday’s round appeared to be the most significant yet. Air raid sirens went off at least three times in Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. Missiles were also directed at Kuwait and Qatar. Later that afternoon, sirens sounded in Jordan, where U.S. troops and aircraft are stationed.

An Iranian official alleged that the U.S. launched a strike Thursday targeting the area surrounding Iran’s only nuclear power plant, and additional explosions were reported across the country during the afternoon hours.

In the early hours of Friday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was buried in his hometown of Mashhad following several days of public mourning. Khamenei was killed during the opening strikes of the Iran conflict.

The latest round of strikes came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump declared that recent Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz had effectively ended the fragile ceasefire, and warned of further escalation if the attacks did not stop. Those statements raised fears that the region could slide back into full-scale war involving multiple countries — and potentially choke off energy shipments through the strait, which are vital to the global economy.

U.S. Military Strikes 90 Targets Inside Iran

The U.S. military’s Central Command announced it struck 90 locations throughout Iran, releasing black-and-white video footage appearing to show hits on an airport runway and missile launch sites.

According to the U.S., the strikes were aimed at further weakening Iran’s capacity to threaten shipping in the strait. Before the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28, roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed through that waterway.

Some shipping activity has resumed since a tentative agreement last month included provisions to reopen the strait. Maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported Thursday that early figures showed at least 576 ships passed through the strait in June, up from 233 in May — though still far below the more than 3,100 vessels that transited the strait in June 2025.

Trump Warns Iran: Next Attack Will Bring Worse Consequences

After departing a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump posted multiple videos to his social media platform showing what he described as explosions inside Iran, and issued a fresh warning to the country.

“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote Wednesday — one day after three tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump also repeated earlier threats to strike Iranian infrastructure, including electrical and water desalination facilities, and to seize Kharg Island, through which approximately 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow.

Final Deal Talks Expected After Khamenei Funeral

Trump said Wednesday that the interim ceasefire was “over,” though he indicated he would allow negotiations to continue while expressing doubt that negotiators were making productive use of their time, saying he believed they were “wasting their time.”

Talks aimed at reaching a permanent agreement were scheduled to begin following Khamenei’s funeral. Those negotiations are expected to tackle the most difficult issues, including fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz and dismantling Iran’s disputed nuclear program.