Global Pulse

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  • Norway’s churches hold services to late King Harald

    Norway’s churches hold services to late King Harald

    Two days after the passing of former King Harald V of Norway, the Scandinavian nation came together Sunday to honor the late monarch, with memorial services held in churches across the country, led by newly ascended King Haakon VIII.

    As Haakon, 53, arrived alongside the extended royal family for the primary service at Asker parish church, located just south of the capital Oslo, hundreds of ordinary Norwegians gathered along the route to catch a glimpse of the new king and pay their respects to his father. Outside Oslo Cathedral, where government officials gathered for a separate commemoration, crowds began forming before sunrise, with many waiting hours for a chance to secure a seat inside to join the national mourning.

    Many attendees shared that showing up to honor Harald felt like a natural act of community grief. “I’ve been deeply affected by the fact that King Harald has died. I felt a desire to be part of the community and to share the grief over his passing,” Aud Ragnhild Skar, a lecturer at the University of Oslo, told Agence France-Presse while waiting in line. Fellow mourner Sissel Engedal, a nurse, echoed that sentiment, describing the late monarch as “a very significant and important and beloved king.”

    A national period of mourning has been formally declared across Norway, though no official date for Harald’s state funeral has been announced to the public. Next week, Haakon will take the formal oath of allegiance to the Norwegian constitution before the national parliament, marking the official completion of the royal succession. Unlike historical European coronation rituals, Norway abolished formal coronation ceremonies for monarchs in 1908, so Haakon and his wife Queen Mette-Marit will not hold a crowning. Still, following the tradition set by his father and grandfather, Haakon is expected to hold a optional consecration service at Trondheim Cathedral, the historic site of Norwegian royal coronations between 1814 and 1906.

    Across his 35-year reign, Harald earned widespread public affection and respect, widely viewed as the living embodiment of Norway’s values of openness, tolerance, and modest governance. He was widely praised for steering the Norwegian monarchy toward a modern, approachable model that aligned with the nation’s egalitarian culture. Even amid a series of high-profile scandals that hit the royal family in the final years of his reign, Harald retained broad public support.

    In his first public address as king, broadcast Saturday, Haakon paid tribute to his father’s legacy. “Above all, you were a person who remained committed to your values and dedicated to your duties,” Haakon said. The new monarch added that he had been “deeply moved” by the outpouring of public grief, noting that “it gives us consolation and strength to know that there are so many who are grieving with us” as the royal family processes the loss.

    Harald had been hospitalized in Oslo since August 17, receiving treatment for haemolytic anaemia, a blood disorder that causes the premature breakdown of red blood cells and leads to chronic fatigue and breathing difficulties. The late king, 89, had faced a series of declining health issues in his final years, which forced him to gradually reduce his official public duties and engagements.

    The past 12 months have been marked by significant turmoil for the entire Norwegian royal household, beyond Harald’s declining health. Queen Sonja, Harald’s wife, also 89, was briefly admitted to a hospital for heart-related care in May. New Queen Mette-Marit has faced ongoing public scrutiny over her past connections to disgraced deceased American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June, Marius Borg Hoiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, was sentenced to four years in prison on two counts of rape, a conviction he is currently appealing. Mette-Marit, who lives with a chronic serious lung disease, underwent a life-saving lung transplant just one month after the verdict in July.

  • Zambian opposition leader charged with treason

    Zambian opposition leader charged with treason

    Amid rapidly escalating political tensions following Zambia’s recent presidential election, opposition presidential candidate Brian Mundubile has been formally charged with treason, according to his legal representation. The charges cap a week of escalating unrest that began after official results confirmed incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema won a second consecutive five-year term.

    Official election data released by Zambia’s electoral body shows Hichilema secured 60% of the vote in the 13 August poll, while Mundubile, running for the opposition National Restoration Party of the United Progressive (NRPUP), won 38% of the national vote. Mundubile immediately rejected the official outcome, raising unsubstantiated claims of irregularities in the vote-counting process.

    In response to the opposition’s challenge, Zambian authorities accused NRPUP of plotting to launch an armed insurgency to overthrow the elected government, an allegation the party has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

    The situation turned deadly one day after the election, when Zambian security forces carried out a raid on a Lusaka property linked to Mundubile. The operation left one former cabinet minister dead and multiple other opposition figures in detention. In the wake of the violent raid, Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu fled to seek safe shelter in a local United Nations compound in the capital, where they remained in hiding for several days.

    President Hichilema’s administration subsequently put diplomatic pressure on the United Nations to hand the two opposition figures over to local authorities, leading to their detention shortly after. On Saturday evening, Mundubile’s defense attorney Milner Katolo confirmed to local outlet *Zambian Eye* that his client had been served with a formal treason charge. Katolo added that Mundubile is prepared to contest the accusation publicly in an open court of law.

    Katolo also confirmed that 17 additional people, including Zulu himself, face the same treason charges alongside the opposition leader.

    The opposition’s efforts to formally challenge the election results through the country’s judicial system were ultimately blocked, after authorities sealed off access to all court buildings on Monday — the final legal deadline for filing election petitions. This move left opposition figures with no formal avenue to contest the outcome through institutional channels.

    As Zambia prepares for Hichilema’s 1 September swearing-in ceremony for his second term, the political fallout continues to draw regional and international scrutiny. While most regional and international election observers assessed that election day itself was conducted in a largely peaceful manner, the Zambia Human Rights Commission has opened a call for accountability, demanding investigations into the cases of dozens of people who remain unaccounted for following post-election arrests and security operations.

  • Manhunt in Switzerland after fatal rave shooting

    Manhunt in Switzerland after fatal rave shooting

    A massive manhunt is ongoing across northern Switzerland Sunday after a gunman or group of gunmen opened fire on a large annual techno rave early Saturday morning, leaving one 22-year-old woman dead and five other young people wounded, Swiss law enforcement officials have confirmed.

    The attack unfolded shortly before 3 a.m. local time at the Aarauer Rave, a yearly electronic music event hosted at the Aarau racetrack roughly 50 kilometers outside Zurich. The event drew approximately 3,500 attendees between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, turning the normally quiet racecourse into a crowded celebration before the gunfire erupted.

    Witnesses initially mistook the sounds of gunfire for fireworks, before multiple attendees realized the danger and began fleeing for cover. Many partygoers took shelter in a nearby gymnasium to wait out the violence, with video posted to social media by local residents showing empty, locked-down streets near the event site, with repeated bursts of gunfire audible in the background.

    Local police confirmed in a post to X that the 22-year-old female victim died of her injuries at the scene. The five other wounded people — four men and one woman between the ages of 24 and 27 — were transported to area hospitals, with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening. All victims are Swiss residents, authorities confirmed.

    In the hours following the shooting, Swiss authorities launched a large-scale multi-agency response to locate the perpetrator or perpetrators. Armed police units were deployed along highways up to 30 kilometers from the attack site, an army helicopter was brought in to assist with the search over Aargau, the cantonal capital, and hundreds of police officers, rescue workers and medical personnel were dispatched to the area. Authorities have cordoned off the entire attack site to preserve evidence while the investigation proceeds, and have urged local residents to avoid the region. Police have also asked any attendees who captured photos or video of the incident to share the material with investigators to help advance the case.

    As of Sunday afternoon, the identity of the attacker or attackers remains unknown, and law enforcement has not released details on how many suspects are being sought or what type of firearm was used in the attack. Authorities have also stated that no potential motive for the shooting has been confirmed, and that the full circumstances of the incident are still under active investigation.

    The shooting marks a rare outbreak of deadly gun violence in Switzerland, a country with a long cultural tradition of widespread civilian gun ownership tied to its military reserve system. Under current Swiss law, army reservists are permitted to keep their service weapons at home, though they are required to store ammunition separately at government facilities. Unlike many European nations, Switzerland does not maintain a national public register of firearms, making it difficult to track the total number of civilian-held weapons. A 2017 study from the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey estimated that Swiss civilians held more than 2.3 million firearms, equal to roughly three guns for every 10 residents, ranking the country 16th globally in per capita gun ownership.

    The last high-profile mass shooting in Switzerland occurred more than two decades ago in 2001, when a lone gunman killed 14 members of the cantonal parliament and local government in Zug, a city near Lucerne, before dying by suicide.

  • Death toll rises to 38 from Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukraine this year

    Death toll rises to 38 from Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukraine this year

    As the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, a devastating escalation of hostilities has sent shockwaves across the country, leaving dozens dead and triggering fresh fears of a catastrophic winter energy crisis. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced via social media on Sunday that the death toll from a Friday night Russian strike on a warehouse in the village of Myla, located just west of Kyiv, has climbed to 38, with four additional people still unaccounted for. This attack marks the deadliest single Russian assault on Ukrainian territory so far in 2024.

    Ukrainian officials confirmed the targeted structure was an ammunition storage facility. The impact of the strike triggered massive, uncontrolled explosions that sparked widespread fires, which spread rapidly to consume dozens of residential homes and adjacent civilian buildings near the storage site. In his update, Zelenskyy noted that 20 people were wounded in the attack, among them two young children. As of Sunday, emergency response teams remained on the ground, working to fully extinguish remaining hotspots, recover victims, and clear the area of unexploded ordnance to make the site safe for recovery efforts.

    The deadly strike near Kyiv came amid a sharp escalation of cross-border hostilities between the two nations. On Sunday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a direct threat, announcing it is preparing to carry out “massive strikes” against Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure. The Russian ministry framed the planned attacks as a direct retaliation for recent Ukrainian drone operations targeting Russian civilian and energy sites, including facilities belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce platform often called “Russia’s Amazon,” and key oil and gas infrastructure across the country.

    Ukrainian officials have long justified these cross-border strikes, arguing that Russia’s energy sector directly funds and fuels Moscow’s full-scale invasion, while Wildberries has supplied dual-use goods that support Russian military operations. Recent months have seen a steady wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and energy facilities, a campaign that has created an unusual fuel shortage across Russia, one of the world’s largest oil and gas exporters—an unprecedented crisis for the country’s energy market.

    This is not the first time Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the cold winter months. During the two previous winters of the full-scale war, Russian forces launched systematic, large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s power generation and transmission infrastructure, leaving millions of Ukrainians without access to heat and electricity during subzero freezing temperatures. Ukrainian national security and energy officials have repeatedly warned the public and international partners that the approaching 2024-2025 winter could be the most difficult for the country’s energy system since the 2022 full-scale invasion, as Russian forces prepare to resume widespread attacks on critical infrastructure.

    In a separate development over the weekend, another Russian drone strike targeted Kyiv in the late hours of Saturday, leaving at least three people injured. Air raid alerts remained active across the capital for the entirety of Saturday. Ukraine’s state emergency services reported that a multi-story residential building in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi district caught fire between the second and fifth floors after the strike. Response teams also extinguished fires in three other districts of the capital, with non-residential administrative buildings damaged in two separate strike locations across the city.

  • Iceland set to reject talks to rejoin EU, national broadcaster says

    Iceland set to reject talks to rejoin EU, national broadcaster says

    Reykjavik, Iceland – In a closely contested national referendum that concluded Saturday, Iceland appears poised to reject a proposal to restart stalled accession negotiations with the European Union, according to preliminary results from Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV, putting an end to one of the Nordic nation’s longest-running political debates for the second time in a decade.

    With all but one southwestern constituency fully counted, the “no” camp holds a thin but steady lead of 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent over supporters of resuming talks. RÚV analysts noted the outcome is nearly irreversible: the remaining uncounted ballots come from the same southwestern district where the pro-EU proposal is already trailing, making a last-minute reversal of the lead extremely unlikely. This result closes a chapter that first ended in 2015, when a euroskeptic Icelandic administration formally terminated previous EU accession talks that had launched more than a decade earlier.

    The snap referendum, originally scheduled for 2025, was moved up to 2024 by the newly elected left-leaning coalition government following a high-profile gaffe from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who incorrectly referred to Iceland multiple times during remarks about his stated interest in gaining control over Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory located near Iceland. That incident stirred fresh security concerns among Icelandic voters, even though the Nordic nation has long been a member of the NATO defensive alliance.

    Proponents of restarting negotiations argued that full EU membership would strengthen Iceland’s geopolitical security, giving the small island nation greater collective protection from great power expansionism should Trump ever turn similar territorial ambitions toward Iceland. Beyond security, backers framed membership as a boon to Iceland’s economic stability: they noted that adopting the euro would replace the highly volatile Icelandic króna, bringing down persistent inflation and lowering domestic interest rates. They also added that full membership would give Iceland a stronger seat at the table to address transboundary challenges like climate change, a pressing threat to the island’s unique glacial ecosystems.

    However, opponents of the proposal successfully rallied voters around two core arguments centered on national sovereignty and existing economic benefits. Opponents pointed out that Iceland already enjoys preferential access to the EU’s single market, allowing frictionless trade in goods and services, and is part of the Schengen Area that enables free movement across most of Europe. Full membership, they argued, would force Iceland to make unacceptable compromises on national governance, particularly its lucrative fishing industry, a cornerstone of the Icelandic economy that would come under EU common fisheries policy if Iceland joined. Opponents further argued that Iceland’s small population would leave its interests with little representation in the European Parliament, and that the nation retains more flexibility by negotiating independent trade deals, such as its existing agreement with China, outside of EU trade frameworks.

    The result confirms what opinion polling had suggested for years: a narrow majority of Icelandic voters remain skeptical of full EU integration, preferring to retain the semi-detached status that has served the small Nordic economy for decades.

  • Manhunt after one killed and five injured in Swiss shooting, police say

    Manhunt after one killed and five injured in Swiss shooting, police say

    In the early hours of Sunday morning, a deadly shooting rocked a pre-planned rave event near Aarau, a city roughly 29 miles west of Zurich in northern Switzerland, leaving one person dead and five others wounded, local law enforcement confirmed.

    Aargau Cantonal Police launched a massive, coordinated operation across the region immediately after the incident, with authorities confirming that a widespread manhunt is currently underway for an unidentified attacker. As of the latest updates, officials have not identified any clear motives for the violence, nor have they pieced together the full, exact circumstances of how the shooting unfolded.

    The attack occurred in Schachen, close to a local horse racing track, where an overnight rave had been scheduled to run into the early hours of Sunday. In response to the shooting, law enforcement has sealed off a large perimeter that encompasses the horse racing track, the town’s public swimming pool, and the local sports field. Police have issued a formal urgent plea for members of the public to avoid the entire cordoned area to preserve the crime scene and ensure public safety.

    Visuals captured from the region early Sunday show a overwhelming police presence, including an armored police vehicle positioned to block a key roadway. Beyond the immediate area around Aarau, police confirmed that they have deployed a large contingent of additional officers as a precautionary measure to prevent any further risk to the public.

    Beyond local police and fire department personnel, regional broadcaster SRF reports that the cantonal disaster response unit (KKE) was also activated to support the response operation. Additionally, a Swiss Army helicopter was deployed to conduct aerial surveys of the area in the early hours of the response to aid the search for the perpetrator.

    Authorities are now calling on any witnesses who were present in the area at the time of the incident to submit any photographs or video footage they captured of the scene to help investigators piece together what happened and identify the attacker.

  • Antonio helps young Ghanaians chase Premier League dreams

    Antonio helps young Ghanaians chase Premier League dreams

    Beneath the warm summer sun of rural Leicestershire, a group of talented young Ghanaian footballers is pushing every muscle and chasing a life-changing goal: to earn a professional contract with a top European club. This two-and-a-half-month UK tour, organized by the Samba Stars Academy – a youth development program backed by former West Ham and Nottingham Forest forward Michail Antonio – marks an innovative new approach to unlocking the abundant football talent hidden across West Africa.

    Unlike the standard model where European scouts travel occasionally to African nations to spot emerging players, Samba Stars took the bold step of bringing their most promising prospects directly to the United Kingdom, putting them face-to-face with club recruiters and testing their skills against top youth sides. Antonio, who co-founded the academy to create tangible pathways for Ghanaian young talent into professional football, explained the core mission behind the project. “The talent the lads have is incredible,” he said. “We created Samba Stars Academy to give young players in Ghana access to elite coaching, shape them as players and create real avenues into the pro game and show how much talent Ghana has.”

    Headquartered in Kumasi, with a new state-of-the-art training facility under construction in Bompata, just over 100 miles north of Ghana’s capital Accra, the academy’s risky gambit has already delivered early results. This summer, top clubs across England – including Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester City, Charlton, Preston, Barnsley and Peterborough – have already invited multiple Samba Stars players to join trial periods, a clear signal of the talent on display.

    For head coach Freddie Okyere, the tour has been a transformative experience for his young squad. “The first two or three weeks it hadn’t sunk in, but then they saw the facilities we’d be using and the teams we were playing,” Okyere said. “They want to go and show what they can do. They are hungry, they really want it. I’m hoping there will be so much interest because we have so much talent here. With the facilities we will have in Ghana we feel we will be top two, top three academies. We hope we can bring the best of Ghana to Europe.”

    This is not the first time the academy has produced success. In February, 18-year-old midfielder Listowell Lord Hinneh earned a permanent move to Middlesbrough after a successful trial, becoming one of the first Samba Stars graduates to land a professional contract in England. Having swapped the warm climate of West Africa for the cooler north east of England, Hinneh has already stepped up to train with the club’s first team, and opened up about the challenges and excitement of his new journey. “When I came in January, it was so cold. Experiencing something like that for the first time was tough,” he told BBC Sport. “Moving was a big milestone. It just makes me feel the dreams I’ve been having, thinking of trying to find myself in Europe to become a professional footballer. I feel the kind of dreams that I want, I’m on the verge. I’m on the way to becoming who I wanted to become.”

    During the Samba Stars’ UK tour, Hinneh met with the current squad to share hard-won advice for the young prospects chasing the same dream he once did. “What you’ve been dreaming about the future, it starts from here,” he told them. “Don’t just try, be so passionate. You need to play and enjoy it because you can have the success in whatever you’re doing. You have to just put your heart in it.”

    The tour almost never happened: 19 of the 20 players in the touring squad had their initial UK visa applications rejected, only gaining entry after a successful re-evaluation. Since arriving, the squad has been hosted by Brook House College in Market Harborough, and trains at the ground of National League North side Harborough Town. For 17-year-old goalkeeper Joshua Tetteh Tuwor, the experience has already opened his eyes to a new level of professional football. “The football here is very detailed,” he said. “In Ghana we have the same passion but I’m seeing a different side of professional football. We are grateful to have such opportunities to train with elite coaches.”

    Rob Newman, a vastly experienced former football recruitment executive who previously served as head of recruitment at West Ham and international scouting manager at Manchester City – where he played a key role in bringing Sergio Agüero to the club – has worked with the Samba Stars both in Ghana and during their UK tour. He believes the young prospects are far closer to European first-team football than many expect. “Hopefully clubs can see the potential,” Newman said. “Nothing will give me greater pleasure in six months than going to see these boys playing in a first team in Europe. I believe they are two or three months away from being able to do that.”

    On the pitch, the Samba Stars have more than held their own during their series of matches against youth teams from the English Football League and non-league system. They opened their tour with a dominant 9-0 victory over Dorking Wanderers’ youth side, followed by wins against the Under-21 teams of Sheffield Wednesday, Luton Town and Peterborough. They earned draws against Sheffield United and Barnsley U21s, with their only defeat coming by a narrow 3-2 score against Preston North End’s U21 side.

    Antonio, who watched the side thrash Peterborough U19s 6-0 last month, said the on-pitch results speak for themselves about the quality of the academy’s prospects. “You can see from what they’ve done since they’ve been in the UK – the results against top teams – that they have what it takes to play pro level,” the 36-year-old said. “It’s great to help knock down barriers and give these lads a real chance.”

    Ghana’s national men’s football team has established itself as a consistent force on the global stage over the past two decades, qualifying for five of the past six FIFA World Cups – reaching the quarter-finals in 2010 – after never qualifying prior to 2006. At this year’s World Cup, eight of the nation’s squad were born overseas, and while the Black Stars have not leaned as heavily on diaspora talent as some other African nations, the Ghana Football Association has signaled it will widen its global search for talent – a shift that makes programs supporting home-grown prospects like Samba Stars even more critical.

    For 18-year-old striker Sherif Mashadu, who already earned a trial with Hungarian top-flight side Zalaegerszegi through his connection to Samba Stars, the weight of expectation from back home fuels his ambition. “You have to have a tough mentality,” he said. “Back home everyone is depending on you, everyone is looking up to you to succeed, to come and help them, your friends, your family. Everyone is praying for you.”

    As the new English football season gets underway, six Ghanaian internationals currently hold contracts with Premier League clubs: Mohammed Kudus at Tottenham Hotspur, Antoine Semenyo at Manchester City, Ibrahim Osman at Brighton, Ipswich Town new signing Abdul Fatawu, and Coventry City pair Brandon Thomas-Asante and Caleb Yirenkyi. Ghana’s first Premier League player was Nii Lamptey, who joined Aston Villa in 1994, while legendary midfielder Michael Essien holds the record for the most appearances by a Ghanaian in the division, winning two Premier League titles with Chelsea. Only two other Ghanaians have lifted the Premier League trophy: Jeffrey Schlupp and Daniel Amartey, part of Leicester City’s iconic 2015-16 title-winning squad.

    For Hinneh, who names Kudus as his biggest inspiration, the journey is just getting started, even as he adapts to life far from home. “Back home we’ve got people you grew up with and you might miss them, but that doesn’t kill the dreams I’m here for,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out what the reality is, what the future holds for me and then just chase the dreams.”

  • Shooting at a rave in Switzerland kills 1 and injures 5

    Shooting at a rave in Switzerland kills 1 and injures 5

    GENEVA – A deadly act of gun violence has shaken the northern Swiss canton of Aargau, leaving one attendee dead and five others wounded — several critically — after a shooting erupted at a large rave event early Sunday, according to local law enforcement and regional media reports. Authorities have launched an extensive manhunt for an unknown attacker, who remains at large as of the latest updates.

    In a public post on the social platform X, Aargau Cantonal Police confirmed that the search for the unidentified perpetrator is still active, adding that both potential motives for the attack and the full, exact sequence of events remain unconfirmed. The shooting unfolded at the seventh iteration of the popular “Aarau Rave VOL. 7”, which was being hosted at the horse racing facility located in Aarau’s Schachen neighborhood. Aarau, the capital of the Aargau canton, sits roughly 29 miles west of Switzerland’s largest city Zurich, and is home to a population of approximately 22,300 people.

    Police spokesperson Pascal Wenzel told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that local authorities received the first emergency alert about the shooting at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, local fire services deployed to cordon off a wide perimeter around the rave site, and a large-scale coordinated police operation was launched to secure the area and locate the suspect. Residents of Aarau and nearby communities were formally urged to avoid the entire Schachen district area to support ongoing emergency and investigative work.

    Many attendees initially misidentified the sound of gunfire as celebratory fireworks, according to reporting from leading Swiss daily newspaper Blick. It was only after a panicked attendee shouted warnings for everyone to take cover that crowds realized the danger, the outlet reported. Blick also noted that the violence broke out moments after the scheduled end of the rave event. Law enforcement has issued a public appeal for any witnesses who may have captured photographs or video footage of the incident, asking them to share the material with investigating teams to help advance the case.

  • Movie stars, timely documentaries and awards hopefuls convene at the Venice Film Festival

    Movie stars, timely documentaries and awards hopefuls convene at the Venice Film Festival

    The lazy, slow days of August usually put Hollywood’s glitzy annual calendar on pause, but the 83rd Venice Film Festival is poised to launch the busy fall festival circuit with its signature blend of red carpet glamour, boundary-pushing cinema, and industry drama when it opens Wednesday on the historic Lido waterfront.

    A-list stars from across the globe are set to walk the iconic festival’s red carpets this year, with names including Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Robert Pattinson, Rooney Mara, George Clooney and Penélope Cruz confirmed to attend. Clooney and veteran actress Ellen Burstyn will also take center stage to accept lifetime achievement Golden Lions, capping decades of acclaimed work in film. For decades, the Venice Film Festival has served as a launching pad for awards season contenders, and industry observers already expect several of this year’s entries to earn Oscar nods in the coming months.

    But unlike past editions, much of the global conversation surrounding this year’s lineup centers not on A-list contenders or future blockbusters, but on a high-profile subject who will almost certainly not be in attendance: billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The core of this attention stems from Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour investigative film, which has been four years in the making. Gibney initially hesitated to take on the project, but a close friend persuaded him that a deep dive into Musk’s life and career would offer a revealing portrait of power in the 21st century — a project that gained even more cultural relevance ahead of its release amid Musk’s high-profile involvement in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and his controversial leadership of social platform X (formerly Twitter), tied to his DOGE cryptocurrency initiative.

    When the documentary was first announced, Musk took to social media to dismiss it as a biased “hit piece.” Gibney quickly pushed back, asking publicly, “How would you know?” In comments to The Associated Press, Gibney shared that he began the project as an admirer of Musk’s work — and even a Tesla owner — and extended multiple invitations for Musk to participate in the film on camera.

    “Ultimately, he didn’t want to talk to me,” Gibney said. “But then you start digging into the facts and you follow them where they lead. And where they led, for me, was to a place that upended the myth, I would say, of Elon Musk as a kind of modern Leonardo da Vinci … I think that the news in this film is that Musk isn’t an inventor. He’s a confidence man.”

    Gibney and his team conducted interviews with hundreds of people with direct knowledge of Musk’s career at Tesla and SpaceX, many of whom spoke only off the record. The director compared Musk to fallen disgraced corporate leaders such as Enron’s executives and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. Gibney added that he was most struck by how many sources — even self-described Musk supporters — refused to speak on the record without first seeking Musk’s permission to comment.

    “I thought, wow, for such a big and powerful person, that seems awfully weak,” Gibney noted. While the film tackles a “dark and dangerous topic,” Gibney described it as a compelling, engaging “fun ride” for audiences.

    Musk’s documentary is not the only timely, politically charged work headlining this year’s nonfiction lineup. Julia Loktev’s *My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile*, a nearly six-hour follow-up to her 2020s documentary, continues her sprawling portrait of independent Russian journalists who fled their home country after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    “You see this group of young, very young journalists who’ve just fled their country, on a few hours’ notice. They had the choice of, you know, stop reporting the truth about the war, which didn’t seem like a choice at all, or go to prison, or leave the country so they can keep telling the truth,” Loktev explained. “It was a question of how long do you keep following? Because this takes place over four years. And over that time, exile becomes, of course, indefinite.” Despite its extended run time, Loktev says the documentary holds audience attention: “I hear it goes by easy.”

    The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza will also take a prominent spot in the lineup, with the new documentary *NAZA* added as a late entry to the main competition. The film comes from two of the creators behind the Oscar-winning documentary *No Other Land*. Unlike the 2024 edition of the festival, no large-scale public protests have been organized, but advocacy group Venice4Palestine has called on festival leadership to “suspend all agreements with entities and institutions linked to the Israeli government” and fly the Palestinian flag across festival grounds throughout the event.

    Beyond documentary, the festival’s narrative lineup includes a number of awards contenders vying for early Oscar momentum. The Venice Film Festival has a long track record of launching best picture nominees, and this year’s slate includes several high-profile projects from award-winning filmmakers. Martin McDonagh, whose last two features premiered at Venice before earning multiple Oscar nominations, returns with *Wild Horse Nine*, a 1970s-set CIA comedy starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Oscar-winning *The Father* director Florian Zeller brings his new psychological thriller *Bunker*, which stars Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Danny Boyle examines a key turning point in tabloid journalism history with *Ink*, while Lance Oppenheim’s *Primetime* has drawn significant curiosity for Robert Pattinson’s lead performance as *To Catch a Predator* host Chris Hansen and its deep dive into early 2000s reality TV culture.

    International cinema also features heavily in this year’s main competition. Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda debuts *Look Back*, a coming-of-age story following two small-town teenage girls chasing their dream of becoming professional manga artists. Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong explores class, labor and romantic desire through the intersecting lives of two married couples in *Possible Love*.

    Notably, the 2025 festival comes at a moment when major Hollywood studios have increasingly pulled back on relying on international film festivals to build buzz for awards contenders. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival had no major studio blockbusters in its lineup, yet Hollywood went on to post one of the highest-grossing summer seasons in history. Last year’s best picture winner *One Battle After Another* skipped the entire festival circuit entirely. While Venice booked more Hollywood titles than Cannes this year, the overall buzz around awards contenders is far more muted than in years past, after multiple high-profile entries saw their Oscar prospects fizzle prematurely in recent seasons.

    Beneath the glamour and awards buzz, the 2025 edition also spotlights a long-unfulfilled promise the festival made to advance gender equity behind the camera. Just one of the 21 films in this year’s main competition is directed by a woman: Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May El-Toukhy. This mirrors the 2018 lineup, which also had only one female director in competition. That 2018 lack of representation prompted the festival to sign a public pledge promising that at least 50 percent of main competition films would be directed by women by 2020 — a goal it has yet to meet seven years later.

    The lack of representation stings even more given that actress-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose 2021 feature *The Lost Daughter* won the festival’s best screenplay award, is this year’s main competition jury president. One of her fellow jurors is Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, whose film *The Voice of Hind Rajab* won the Silver Lion in 2024, a year when six competition films were directed by women. In the history of the festival, only seven women have ever won the top prize, the Golden Lion.

    Outside the main competition, representation is far better. The independent Venice Days sidebar, which opens this year with Hungarian director Lili Horvát’s English-language debut *My Notes on Mars*, has more than half of its 2025 lineup directed by women, including high-profile short films from established auteurs including Mona Fastvold and Claire Denis. Horvát called it “good to be in a progressive section.”

  • The missing in Nepal-Tibet flash floods

    The missing in Nepal-Tibet flash floods

    ### Over 3,000 Unaccounted For, 750 Killed in Catastrophic Cross-Border Flash Floods
    Deadly flash floods and massive landslides that tore through the Nepal-Tibet border region have left a staggering humanitarian toll, with updated official counts from Sunday putting the number of missing at more than 3,000 and confirmed fatalities at 750. Disaster response officials warn these numbers are almost certain to shift amid the widespread chaos and ongoing search operations that follow large-scale natural disasters, a common dynamic in the immediate aftermath of such events.

    As of the latest update, Nepal’s national disaster management agency has raised the count of missing people on its side of the border to 2,498, with 734 confirmed deaths recorded in the country. Across the border in Tibet, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported Sunday that 546 people remain unaccounted for, with 16 additional confirmed deaths. Combined, the total number of missing people across the two regions stands at 3,044.

    A striking feature of this disaster is the large number of foreign nationals among the missing. Nepal’s disaster agency confirmed Sunday that 589 foreigners are unaccounted for on Nepali territory, an increase from the 517 reported just two days prior, though officials have not yet released a detailed breakdown by nationality. Chinese officials also reported Sunday that at least 261 foreign nationals are missing on the Tibetan side of the border.

    In neighboring India, authorities have recovered seven bodies from cross-border rivers originating in Nepal that authorities believe are flood victims, though these remains have not yet been added to the official disaster toll.

    #### Breakdown by Region and Nationality
    On Nepali soil, disaster officials count 1,909 local citizens among the missing, with the hardest-hit district of Rasuwa accounting for 562 unaccounted for residents. Critical infrastructure workers make up a large share of the missing Nepali nationals: 933 employees working on hydropower development projects, 45 Nepali Army soldiers, 40 police and armed police officers, and 19 customs and immigration officials are still missing. CCTV also reports that 104 Nepali nationals are unaccounted for in Tibet.

    For Chinese nationals, China’s foreign ministry confirmed Thursday that nearly 100 are missing in Nepal, while the Nepal Tourism Board records eight Chinese citizens unaccounted for on Nepali territory, with 18 others already rescued.

    Multiple countries have confirmed large numbers of their citizens missing in the disaster. India’s foreign ministry reported Saturday that 275 Indian citizens are missing in Nepal, with an additional 128 people of Indian origin also unaccounted for. Notably, around 900 other Indian nationals on the Tibetan side of the border have been confirmed safe and reachable. Chinese state media reports that 49 Indian nationals are missing in Tibet.

    The United States State Department confirmed Thursday that 90 U.S. citizens are missing, with three already rescued, and no confirmed U.S. fatalities reported to date. That figure differs from the Nepal Tourism Board’s Friday count of 65 missing U.S. citizens in Nepal with two rescued. Chinese state media adds that 18 U.S. citizens are missing in Tibet.

    Ukraine’s embassy in Nepal revised its count of missing citizens upward to 62 on Friday, matching the Nepal Tourism Board’s count of 61 missing in Nepal, with one additional Ukrainian national missing in Tibet, per CCTV.

    Other countries with citizens missing include Malaysia, with 51 missing in Nepal and three in Tibet; Australia, with 42 total missing as of Sunday; the United Kingdom, with 33 missing in Nepal and 15 in Tibet; Latvia, with 29 missing in Nepal and 33 in Tibet; and Canada, where the foreign ministry counts 30 total missing across Nepal and Tibet, compared to the Nepal Tourism Board’s 25 missing in Nepal, with six additional missing in Tibet.

    Smaller numbers of missing citizens from more than 20 other countries have also been reported, including South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, France, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Finland, Israel, Lithuania, the Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden, Vietnam, and Estonia, with counts varying slightly between Nepali and Chinese official sources as of Sunday’s updates.

    As search and rescue operations continue across the rugged border region, candlelight vigils have already been held for victims, including an event in Kathmandu on August 29 that was attended by Nepali scouts and community members mourning those lost to the disaster.