Global Pulse

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  • Congo’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak reaches a sixth province

    Congo’s fastest-growing Ebola outbreak reaches a sixth province

    KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo – The ongoing deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has expanded into a sixth previously unaffected province, with the first fatality recorded in Bas-Uele, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya confirmed Thursday.

    The deceased patient, Kaseya explained, had traveled from Isiro, a community in the already impacted Haut-Uele province, to Buta – the capital city of Bas-Uele – before succumbing to the virus.

    The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that this current outbreak, driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, is already the fastest-growing event of its kind on record and is on course to surpass the 2013-2016 West African outbreak, the deadliest Ebola event in history that claimed more than 11,000 lives. Unlike outbreaks of more common Ebola strains, there are currently no formally approved vaccines or targeted treatments available for the Bundibugyo variant driving the current surge.

    Latest official data from the Congolese government puts the outbreak’s cumulative case count above 4,500, with more than 2,100 deaths recorded to date. Alarmingly, this death toll has been reached nearly three times faster than the same mortality milestone during the 2014-2016 West African outbreak, signaling an unprecedented rate of spread.

    Response efforts are being severely hampered by a perfect storm of systemic and security challenges. Unpaid health workers have launched widespread strikes, armed rebel groups operate in many affected regions, deep-seated distrust among long-traumatized local communities undermines containment work, and pervasive misinformation claiming Ebola does not exist has discouraged participation in public health measures. These barriers have allowed the virus to outpace intervention teams across the country.

    On the same day the expansion to Bas-Uele was announced, health workers at the Nizi Treatment Center in Ituri – the hardest-hit province in the outbreak – walked off the job, forcing the facility to temporarily close. Workers reported they had not received any salary for three months, a grievance that has disrupted care across multiple response sites.

    Compounding the crisis, the true scale of the outbreak remains undercounted and poorly understood. Though the outbreak was formally declared on May 15, recent genetic sequencing conducted by the WHO confirms the virus was circulating as early as February, months before official detection. Health authorities estimate that 60 to 70 percent of new confirmed cases are found among community members not already on monitored contact lists, confirming the virus is spreading widely through undetected community transmission.

    “We are chasing the virus; the virus is ahead of us,” Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, stated this week, summarizing the growing gap between spread and response.

    Ebola is a rare but highly contagious viral pathogen that spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids including blood, vomit and semen, as well as exposure to contaminated surfaces and materials like bedding and clothing. Infection causes severe acute illness that carries a high risk of fatality without targeted care.

    In a small bright spot for the response, clinical trials for two potential treatments specific to this strain of Ebola launched last month in Ituri, offering hope that targeted medical options could become available in the coming months.

  • ‘The fish is in the right’ says man bitten by blue shark while angling

    ‘The fish is in the right’ says man bitten by blue shark while angling

    A shark bite incident off Ireland’s southern coast has left a member of a marine research tagging crew with serious injuries, requiring urgent surgery this week. The encounter unfolded Tuesday near Ram Head, Ardmore, County Waterford, when 38-year-old Sebastian Achim pulled a blue shark onto his vessel after hooking it as part of a research catch-and-tag project.

    The crew on board the boat were all experienced fishermen carrying out work for Ireland’s Marine Sportfishing Tagging Programme, a long-running initiative that collects ecological data on shark populations around the Irish coast. Achim told Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ that after successfully removing the hook from the animal and stepping roughly half a meter back from its tail to maintain a safe buffer zone, he paused to observe the shark before the sudden attack.

    “I was just admiring the fish itself, when he just jumped in a millisecond and grabbed into my calf,” Achim recalled in an interview with RTÉ Radio One’s *Morning Ireland*. Refusing to blame the animal for the incident, he noted that the shark was acting on natural survival instincts after being pulled from its open-water habitat. “I cannot say if it was a deliberate attack or it was not a deliberate attack, but the fish is in the right anyway, we took it out of the water,” he said. The crew immediately released the untagged shark back into the ocean to avoid causing it further stress.

    In the moments after the bite, Achim acted quickly to stem blood flow by tying a tourniquet above the deep leg wound, while his crew contacted emergency responders. At the time of the incident, the vessel was roughly three hours from the nearest shore, leaving Achim fighting to stay conscious as he waited for rescue. “I lost a lot of blood and kept passing out,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

    Multiple emergency agencies launched a coordinated response to the incident, including Ballycotton RNLI, Youghal RNLI, and the Irish Coast Guard’s Rescue 117 helicopter. A rescue winch team extracted Achim from the boat and airlifted him to Cork University Hospital for urgent care.

    Once he arrived at the hospital, the adrenaline from the incident faded, and Achim began to experience constant severe pain. Medical teams informed him that the bite had torn away significant amounts of tissue and skin, requiring reconstructive surgery with skin grafts to repair the wound. Despite the gravity of his injury, Achim said his primary concern during the rescue was avoiding panic among his crew and reassuring his partner, rather than his own condition. “I was trying to keep myself awake so I didn’t make anyone panic,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the gravity of the problem, it matters for me that the people around do not suffer because of my actions.”

    Blue sharks, the species involved in the incident, are common seasonal visitors to Irish and British coastal waters, arriving between June and October each year to feed. These long-distance migratory sharks can grow to more than three meters in length, preying on open-water fish, squid, smaller sharks, and seabirds. They are also one of the most targeted species for recreational catch-and-release angling in Ireland, and are considered a valuable marine sport fish.

    Jack Kelly, a Galway-based marine biologist and underwater cinematographer, explained that blue sharks’ famous curiosity often leads them to interact with humans and human objects. Unlike many animals, sharks do not have limbs to investigate unfamiliar items, so they often use bumping or close approaches to explore new objects in their environment. “If a shark approaches anything, really, it’s not like they have fingers to be able to investigate to see what it is,” Kelly told BBC Radio Ulster’s *Good Morning Ulster*. “For me, when I’m underwater they might give the camera a bump just to see what it is, so their curiosity for me is definitely something that stands out.”

    Ecological data from Inland Fisheries Ireland shows that blue sharks are classified as Near Threatened on both the IUCN Red List and Ireland’s national Red List for cartilaginous fish. The Marine Sportfishing Tagging Programme, which has operated off Ireland’s coast since 1970, has tagged more than 19,300 blue sharks as of 2013, accounting for 45% of all fish tagged through the initiative.

    This week’s incident is not the first recorded shark bite off the Irish coast. In 2018, a recreational angler from Belfast suffered serious lower arm injuries after a blue shark bit him while he was pulling the animal onto his boat off Cork, requiring a rescue from Crosshaven RNLI.

  • Poland says it thwarted unprecedented plot by Russia to kill an American citizen in a NATO country

    Poland says it thwarted unprecedented plot by Russia to kill an American citizen in a NATO country

    WARSAW, Poland — In a major security breakthrough that underscores escalating cross-border Russian espionage risks on NATO territory, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Thursday that law enforcement authorities have disrupted an alleged assassination plot ordered by Russian intelligence services, arresting a Russian national accused of planning to murder a Ukrainian-American citizen in the Polish capital.

    Tusk emphasized that the foiled plot marks a historic first: it is the first documented instance of a hit ordered directly by the Russian government targeting an American citizen on the soil of another NATO member nation. The target, he told reporters during a public press briefing, had become a perceived nuisance to Vladimir Putin’s regime, though no further details on the individual’s activities or identity were released.

    Polish security officials confirmed the suspect was taken into custody during a pre-dawn operation on August 7. Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister tasked with coordinating the country’s secret service agencies, added that the counter-terrorism operation was executed in full coordination and partnership with U.S. intelligence and law enforcement bodies. As of Thursday afternoon, government officials had not released additional information about the suspect’s background, the specific logistics of the planned attack, or any further context about the targeted victim.

  • Bangladesh dominate Australia despite Smith reprieve

    Bangladesh dominate Australia despite Smith reprieve

    The opening day of the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh in Darwin delivered an unexpected storyline full of drama, controversy, and a stunning underdog performance, with a controversial technology decision and a career-best bowling display shaping the contest. After Australia captain won the toss and opted to bat first, Bangladesh’s bowlers turned in a relentless, clinical performance that left the fancied hosts reeling by the close of play.

    The day’s biggest talking point emerged early in Steve Smith’s innings when Bangladesh pace bowler Ebadot Hossain delivered a ball that clipped the edge of Smith’s bat. Bangladesh immediately appealed for a caught-behind dismissal to on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who ruled the batter not out. The touring side quickly called for a review, and even Smith himself began walking toward the pavilion, convinced he had edged the delivery. But to the surprise of Ebadot and the Bangladesh squad, Snicko — the edge-detection technology used to review close catching appeals — showed a completely flat audio line as the ball passed the bat. The original not out ruling was upheld, gifting Smith a reprieve when he had scored just seven runs.

    Speaking after the day’s play, Smith acknowledged the luck that came his way. “I think so, yeah. I was lucky? Yeah, it seems that way. You got to take it sometimes,” he told reporters. “Maybe I didn’t nick it. I don’t know. But I certainly felt something. If I’d been given out, I was going to walk off. But yeah, technology saved me today, I guess.”

    Smith went on to capitalise on his second chance, compiling a solid 71 runs before he eventually holed out a catch off the bowling of Hasan Mahmud. Notably, this was not the only let-off Smith received on the day; he was also dropped twice by Bangladesh fielders, allowing him to add crucial runs to Australia’s total. Even with Smith’s contribution, however, the rest of Australia’s batting line-up crumbled under pressure from Bangladesh’s attack.

    Mahmud, Bangladesh’s fast bowler, produced the performance of his career to date, taking a stunning six wickets for just 55 runs. His late wicket burst saw Australia collapse from 152-5 to 198 all out, losing their final five wickets for only 46 runs. It was a collapse that few predicted heading into the match, with Australia having never lost a home Test to Bangladesh, and only one loss across the six previous meetings between the sides (a 2017 defeat in Mirpur).

    The controversy around Snicko is nothing new for cricket in Australia, with the technology already at the centre of multiple high-profile disputes during the 2025 Ashes series. In that series, Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey was reprieved after an error by the Snicko operator, while England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was involved in two separate contentious decisions tied to the technology. Unlike those earlier incidents, which stemmed from misaligned audio and visual data, this week’s controversy came from the complete lack of an audio spike on Snicko’s readout, despite Smith acknowledging he felt contact on the ball.

    By the close of play on day one, Bangladesh had responded strongly to Australia’s total, reaching 96 for the loss of one wicket. Opener Shadman Islam fell early to Mitchell Starc, edging a leading edge to the gully slip cordon, but batsmen Tanzid Hasan Tamim (32 not out) and Mominul Haque (35 not out) put on an unbroken 81-run partnership to steer the tourists to the close. At stumps, Bangladesh trails Australia by just 102 runs, with nine wickets in hand heading into day two of the five-day Test.

    This opening match is the first of a two-Test series between the two sides, with Bangladesh sitting in a strong position to push for a historic first win on Australian soil after a dominant opening day of play.

  • Flock boss admits surveillance firm took too long to act over police abuse

    Flock boss admits surveillance firm took too long to act over police abuse

    After months of growing public outcry over documented misuse of its surveillance technology by law enforcement officers across the United States, American surveillance company Flock has introduced sweeping new privacy and security safeguards — a change its founder and chief executive Garrett Langley acknowledges should have been implemented far earlier.

    Flock’s network of tens of thousands of license plate reading cameras, fixed surveillance devices and drones have been widely deployed by police departments nationwide. While the tool has proven useful for legitimate law enforcement tasks including recovering stolen vehicles and locating missing people, multiple high-profile cases have exposed dangerous abuse: officers have used Flock’s technology to stalk current and former romantic partners, track innocent civilians unrelated to any criminal investigation, and even monitor a woman who received an abortion. Multiple officers across the country have resigned or been terminated after being caught misusing the platform, and an Indiana man recently confirmed via a public records request that local police had placed an alert on his vehicle despite him never being suspected of any crime.

    The scandal has sparked significant public and political pushback: at least 50 US cities have cut ties with Flock so far this year. Still, Langley told the BBC that business remains largely stable, noting that 16 cities that previously ended their contracts have reversed course and resumed their partnership with the firm in the last three months. He added that the company currently maintains a 7:1 ratio of new customers to customers that terminate services.

    Looking back, Langley admitted that he was slow to recognize the growing public concern and the need for stronger oversight. Six months ago, during a board meeting, he questioned why Flock was drawing increasing public scrutiny — a moment that came shortly after smart doorbell manufacturer Amazon Ring scrapped a planned partnership with Flock following public outrage over a Super Bowl advertisement that amplified fears of mass unregulated surveillance.

    “Historically, my point of view as a chief executive of a private company was, I don’t know if I should be making these decisions. I don’t know if it’s my job to say how long data should be retained,” Langley explained in his interview with the BBC. He has since reversed that position, now aligning with civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the core demand that police must be required to link any search of Flock data to an active open case number. “They’re right. I think it should be required,” he said.

    Langley acknowledged that employees and community members have repeatedly called on Flock to take a firmer stance as the technology’s creator and industry expert, a responsibility he previously resisted. Now he has embraced that accountability, pairing the rollout of new safeguards with his continued argument that Flock’s tools are critical to reducing crime and improving public safety in American communities. He even claimed that cities that choose not to use Flock’s technology are intentionally making their communities less safe.

    Despite this defense of his product, Langley does not deny the widespread abuse that has occurred. He noted that Flock’s prominently placed cameras in neighborhoods across the country have made the company a convenient target for growing public anxiety about mass surveillance and unregulated data collection, a concern that is amplified by the complete lack of comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the US governing how personal data can be collected, used or sold. “Because you can see our cameras, it’s easier to get mad,” he said.

    The push for new safeguards grew directly out of community and law enforcement conversations, Langley explained. He recalled meeting a woman in Cleveland who fiercely opposed Flock’s deployment in her neighborhood, telling him she saw the technology as a tool for police to abuse their power. What surprised him, he said, was that many rank-and-file officers shared that concern: during conversations with police, officers often told him they knew some colleagues were misusing access to surveillance tools, but had no formal mechanism to flag or document that behavior.

    That feedback led Flock to roll out a voluntary audit feature earlier this year, which automatically logs every search of the company’s database and automatically flags unusual activity that may indicate misuse. The vast majority of police departments enabled the tool as soon as it was available, and the data it captured confirmed just how rampant misuse had become — prompting Langley to make the feature a mandatory standard for all customers.

    Langley emphasized that officers who abuse their access to surveillance tools are unfit for service and should face consequences harsher than termination alone. “If anyone is going to be the one that spearheads getting rid of abusive cops? Sign me up,” he said. “We trust these individuals with deadly weapons. I think a camera is very far from a deadly weapon, but I would say it’s a very powerful tool. We should hold it incredibly accountable.”

    The key new policy changes also include cutting the default retention period for most user data collected by Flock from 30 days to just seven days, a change designed to reduce the risk of inappropriate access to historical personal location data.

  • Explosion at Dutch port of Rotterdam leaves 1 dead, several injured

    Explosion at Dutch port of Rotterdam leaves 1 dead, several injured

    On a Thursday morning in late spring, a sudden explosion rocked the industrial zone of Europe’s largest shipping hub, the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, leaving at least one person dead and multiple others with injuries, local law enforcement confirmed. The blast hit a refinery and fuel storage terminal run by global energy trader Gunvor Energy just after 11 a.m., triggering an immediate large-scale emergency response across the port area.

  • Maghreb sees demographic shift with fertility at historic low

    Maghreb sees demographic shift with fertility at historic low

    Across Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, the North African Maghreb region is undergoing an unprecedented demographic transformation, as shifting social norms and mounting economic strain push growing numbers of couples to have fewer children, pushing regional fertility rates to all-time historic lows. This rapid decline is upending long-held cultural stereotypes of large, multi-child families that have long defined the region, mirroring similar global demographic shifts while unfolding at a faster, more sustained pace than many experts anticipated.

    A new analysis from France’s National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) confirms the downward trend is both exceptionally sharp and likely permanent, a shift Tunisian leading demographer Mohamed Ali Ben Zina has described as “profound” in its long-term implications for the region. Official demographic data collected across the three countries underscores the scale of the change: since the 1970s, average fertility rates have dropped by more than half across the Maghreb.

    As of 2024, Tunisia holds the lowest fertility rate in the region, with an estimated average of just 1.53 children per woman, down from 1.58 in 2023. Morocco follows with an average of 1.97 children per woman, while Algeria has the highest regional rate at 2.61.

    Interviews with residents and experts across the region point to a tangled web of interconnected factors driving the shift. Leading demographic researcher Hassen Kassar, based in Tunisia, notes deep structural social changes are at the root of Tunisia’s particularly steep decline: growing urbanization and the modernization of family structures have naturally reduced preferences for large household sizes, he explains.

    Generational shifts in outlook are striking. In Algiers, 66-year-old retired finance executive Said—who asked to not share his full name—grew up one of 10 children. “My father struggled constantly to put food on the table for all of us,” he recalled. “That experience is why I decided to stop at two children. What matters most is that they have enough to eat, proper clothes, and a stable, comfortable life.”

    Economic precarity remains one of the most commonly cited drivers for smaller families. Chaimae Drioui, a researcher and professor at Morocco’s National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics (INSEA), frames declining fertility as a logical, calculated choice for modern families adjusting to new economic realities. For generations, many low-income Maghreb households viewed children as a long-term financial investment, counting on adult children to support aging parents. That conventional wisdom has flipped completely in recent years, Drioui explains: “Today, raising a child costs far more than any immediate or long-term economic benefit he or she can provide.”

    In Tunis, 42-year-old civil servant Nadia Jaouadi says she and her husband made the deliberate decision to remain childless 10 years ago, a choice she has never regretted. “There is nothing in this current climate that encourages people to have even one child,” she says, pointing to Tunisia’s ongoing deep economic struggles and unstable social environment as core reasons for her choice.

    Beyond financial pressure, growing awareness of the mental and physical toll of parenthood is also pushing many women to limit or forgo having children. Zina, a 42-year-old Algerian woman who had her only daughter at age 38, says she has no plans for a second child: “After giving birth, I understood just how much of a strain motherhood puts on both your physical and mental health.” In Rabat, 38-year-old public sector manager Kaouthar—who also requested partial anonymity—says she has chosen to remain permanently childless: “I opted for a calm life, free from the constant worry and stress that comes with raising a child.”

    Drioui emphasizes that expanding access to education and growing economic empowerment for women have been game-changing in dismantling traditional large-family norms. Longer educational pathways for women and rising professional ambitions have delayed childbearing and reduced the total number of children many choose to have, while rising divorce rates have also altered family planning patterns across the region.

    This dramatic demographic shift comes with far-reaching long-term consequences, most immediately a rapidly aging population across the Maghreb. In Tunisia, adults aged 60 and older already make up 17 percent of the total population, equal to nearly 2 million residents. The trend is less advanced in the other two countries: in 2023, adults 60 and older made up 10 percent of Algeria’s population, while the figure hit 13.8 percent for Morocco in 2024.

    A shrinking working-age population and growing cohort of retirees will put increasing strain on public pension systems and upend the balance between working contributors and retired beneficiaries, experts warn. If current trends hold and deaths begin to outnumber births, INED researchers note that only sustained immigration can prevent overall population decline. Foreign workers could also fill critical labour gaps as the working-age population shrinks.

    But opening borders to large-scale immigration remains a politically and socially sensitive topic across all three Maghreb countries. Even so, some experts say the region will have little choice but to embrace migration from neighbouring regions. Kassar says the writing is already on the wall: “We will need sub-Saharan migrants to address these gaps.”

  • Body of Pakistani climber recovered from Broad Peak 2 weeks after avalanche killed 10

    Body of Pakistani climber recovered from Broad Peak 2 weeks after avalanche killed 10

    Nearly two weeks after one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters in recent Pakistani history, local volunteers have recovered the remains of the last missing Pakistani climber killed in a July 30 avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, local officials confirmed Thursday.

    Sohail Sakhi, one of the 10 members of an international expedition led by famous high-altitude climber Nirmal Purja, had been unaccounted for since the avalanche cut off all contact between the team and base camp. Authorities confirmed all 10 climbers had died after the incident, and Sakhi’s recovery brings the total number of bodies retrieved to eight.

    The volunteer team hailing from the local Karakoram region located Sakhi’s body before additional rescue teams joined to carry the remains back to the mountain’s base camp. According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the body will be airlifted via helicopter to a regional air base as soon as favorable weather conditions allow for safe flight operations.

    This recovery comes just 48 hours after a moving candlelight vigil was held in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Mountaineers, diplomatic representatives, and civil society activists gathered to honor the lives of the 10 lost climbers, who came from six nations across the globe: Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, China, Britain and the United States.

    Standing at 8,051 meters (26,414 feet) above sea level, Broad Peak ranks as the 12th highest mountain on Earth, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountain range just adjacent to K2, the world’s second-tallest peak. Northern Pakistan, which hosts five of the world’s 14 highest mountains, has long been a destination for experienced mountaineers from around the world, but the region’s unpredictable glacial conditions and harsh weather make climbing-related accidents a regular and tragic occurrence.

  • Golfer admits ‘stupidity’ after faking hole-in-one

    Golfer admits ‘stupidity’ after faking hole-in-one

    A high-profile incident of golf cheating has rocked a private country club in Missouri, after an accomplished amateur player publicly owned up to orchestrating a fake hole-in-one at a club member tournament. Zach Holland, a former collegiate golfer holding a plus-two handicap, has stepped down from his membership at WingHaven Country Club after the scheme came to light, acknowledging his actions were deeply reckless and unethical.

    The deception unfolded on the morning of the club’s annual member-member team competition, an event restricted to players who hold official membership at the facility, which offers a pooled prize for any participant that scores a hole-in-one. Holland had already completed play on the first three holes alongside his playing group when he concocted a false excuse: he claimed his grandmother was unwell and needed to take an urgent phone call, telling his group he would move ahead to the par-three fourth hole to play his tee shot early to avoid slowing down the group’s pace.

    By the time the rest of Holland’s group arrived at the fourth green, he told them he had already played his shot but could not recall where the ball had landed. When the group searched the green, they discovered Holland’s golf ball sitting in the cup, prompting an immediate celebration of what the group believed was an unexpected hole-in-one.

    Suspicion quickly grew among other club members in the clubhouse, however, as no witnesses had actually seen Holland hit the tee shot. When club officials confronted Holland, they were able to back up their suspicions with security camera footage showing Holland driving a vehicle near the fourth hole before his official tee time that day. Though no footage captured Holland actually placing the ball in the cup, the evidence was enough to prompt a full confession. Holland has since confirmed he placed the ball in the cup before his round even began, in a premeditated act of deception.

    In an interview with St. Louis-based radio station 101 ESPN, Holland expressed deep remorse for his actions, saying, “You do something as dumb as I did, there are consequences for that.” When pressed about his motivation for the scheme, he said there was no clear justification for his choice. “I don’t really know. I’ve talked to people and there really is no motivation, just complete stupidity. We were giving two shots back to the field – and that’s not an excuse, there is no excuse for what I did. But to answer your question, we were giving two shots back to the field, and I went about it just completely and utterly the wrong way.”

    Holland emphasized that the incident was an isolated mistake, not a pattern of bad behavior. “I’m not a cheater on the golf course. I made a bad decision and I have to suffer the consequences,” he said. The former player acknowledged he accepts public criticism of his actions, noting “I can take the banter and the chatter because I deserve that from a golf perspective.” What weighs on him most, he added, is the damage the incident has caused to his family and personal relationships. “But what I am most worried about is my family, breaking trust with a marriage I have had for five years next month. We have two kids that are under three and you know, it’s not fair to them for me to put them in that situation where they walk in a room, there is a stigma there that your dad [is a cheater].”

    Nathan Charnes, acting president of the PGA of America and general manager of WingHaven Country Club, told Golf.com in a statement that the club moved quickly to resolve the issue once the deception was uncovered. The club later released a formal statement confirming the matter has been fully addressed and is now considered closed. “We promptly addressed the matter,” Charnes said, adding that the club “care deeply about the integrity of the game and the experience we provide for our members and guests.”

    Holland, who is working to move past the incident and protect his family from further public scrutiny, resigned his membership at the club following his confession, bringing the internal investigation to a close.

  • Ukraine’s drones hit a major Russian refinery 800 miles from the border, sparking a fire

    Ukraine’s drones hit a major Russian refinery 800 miles from the border, sparking a fire

    Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has ramped up a sustained campaign targeting Russia’s critical energy sector, carrying out the fourth deep-strike drone attack on Russian oil infrastructure in just three days, Ukrainian military officials confirmed Thursday.

    As one of the world’s largest energy exporters, Russia’s oil industry forms the backbone of its national economy, funding the ongoing military campaign that has pushed slowly and at massive human and material cost deeper into Ukrainian territory. Kyiv’s strategy of disrupting Russia’s oil refining capacity aims to cut off a key revenue stream for Moscow’s war effort and force President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace deal, though there is currently no public evidence this objective is being achieved.

    The latest target was the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil refining and petrochemical complex, located in Russia’s Republic of Bashkortostan roughly 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) southeast of Moscow and 800 miles from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine’s General Staff announced via Telegram that overnight drone strikes sparked a large fire at the facility, one of Russia’s largest refining and petrochemical hubs, which processes up to 74 million barrels of crude oil annually to produce gasoline, diesel and a range of other petroleum products.

    Radiy Khabirov, the governor of Bashkortostan, confirmed the attack, noting that two civilians were wounded and a fire broke out in Salavat’s industrial zone. Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer Wildberries also reported that a fire ignited at one of its unused facilities located within the same industrial zone following the strike, prompting a full evacuation of the site with no stored goods damaged.

    Thursday’s attack on the Salavat refinery came just one day after Ukrainian anti-ship missiles and drones carried out a large-scale blitz on a key Russian naval stronghold along the Black Sea coast. In a separate incident Thursday in Sevastopol, the port city on Russia’s illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, five people — four Russian Emergency Ministry explosive experts and one security guard — were killed when an unexploded Ukrainian weapon detonated as the team inspected the site of an earlier attack. To date, no independent third party has been able to verify the conflicting claims of the two warring sides.

    The strike on Salavat follows a separate drone attack earlier this week on another key Russian refinery in Orsk, located in the Orenburg region near the Kazakhstan border. Orenburg Governor Yevgeny Solntsev confirmed Thursday that the Orsk facility has suspended all operations after critical infrastructure, including imported processing equipment, was damaged. In an unusual public acknowledgment of the disruption caused by Kyiv’s attacks, Solntsev noted that repairs could take up to six months due to ongoing international sanctions that limit access to replacement parts.

    Russia has responded to Ukraine’s deep-strike drone campaign with intensified barrages across Ukraine, launching waves of ballistic missiles, jet-powered Shahed drones and glide bombs — weapons that are highly destructive and difficult for Ukrainian air defenses to intercept. According to United Nations estimates, these Russian strikes have killed more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians since the full-scale invasion began.

    Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, Russian forces launched 133 long-range attack drones across Ukrainian territory, killing at least four people and wounding eight more. In the southern Odesa region, a Russian Shahed drone hit a passenger train, killing the lead engineer and his assistant, state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia confirmed. A separate drone strike in the southern city of Kherson killed two civilians Wednesday evening, regional military administrator Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

    On the diplomatic and military assistance front, Ukraine is facing growing shortages of critical air defense equipment, specifically U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles needed to counter Russian ballistic missile strikes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed in a CNN interview broadcast Wednesday that Kyiv currently has only two-fifths the number of Patriot interceptors it had in 2025, with stockpiles depleted in part by ongoing conflict tensions related to Iran. Zelenskyy noted he makes daily requests to secure additional interceptors, and has asked the U.S. to sell Ukraine 5% of its current stockpile to help Ukraine defend its power grid through the coming winter, when Russia typically intensifies strikes on energy infrastructure. To date, Ukraine has only secured 1% of the requested munitions, he said.

    A new report published Thursday by Germany’s Kiel Institute, a leading organization tracking international military assistance to Ukraine, found that European countries have paid U.S. defense contractors at least 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) for military equipment transferred to Kyiv in the first half of 2026. Overall, military aid commitments to Ukraine in the first six months of 2026 remained close to 2025 levels, but financial and humanitarian aid dropped by 41% year-over-year. The report also noted that the current U.S. administration led by former President Donald Trump has declined to provide new direct U.S. aid to Ukraine, but has permitted other allied nations to purchase U.S.-made weapons for transfer to Kyiv.