Global Pulse

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  • A Wildberries depot in Russia is hit again and destroyed as Ukraine extends its drone campaign

    A Wildberries depot in Russia is hit again and destroyed as Ukraine extends its drone campaign

    In a dramatic escalation of Ukraine’s cross-border aerial campaign, Ukrainian long-range drones have completely destroyed a major logistics warehouse operated by Russia’s largest e-commerce giant Wildberries — marking the second strike on the same facility in just over a month, local Russian authorities confirmed Wednesday.

    Located in Russia’s Tambov region, hundreds of kilometers southeast of Moscow and far from the Ukrainian front lines, the depot first came under Ukrainian attack on July 18. That initial strike killed seven people and opened a new chapter of sustained drone assaults on Wildberries infrastructure that has rippled across Russian territory in recent weeks. Often compared to U.S. retail giant Amazon for its market dominance and central role in Russian domestic commerce, Wildberries has become a key target for Ukrainian forces. Kyiv officials say the company’s product catalog includes military equipment and technical components that directly support Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

    The expanded drone campaign, enabled by advances in Ukrainian unmanned aerial technology developed after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has hit dozens of Wildberries facilities across Russia in recent weeks. Beyond disrupting potential military supply chains, the strikes advance Ukraine’s war objectives in two critical ways: they sow uncertainty and anxiety among Russian civilian populations living far from the combat zone, and they create growing strain on the Russian domestic economy.

    The strike on the Tambov depot left two people injured, regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed. A 19-year-old man suffered a concussion, while a 49-year-old woman sustained a broken finger. Wildberries itself acknowledged the overnight attack and subsequent fire, confirming all personnel were evacuated from the facility, but declined to comment further on the scale of damage. In a separate drone incident Wednesday in Russia’s Lipetsk region, south of Moscow, a falling drone crashed into a residential home and sparked a fire, killing two people and wounding two more, regional governor Igor Artamonov reported.

    Wildberries is not the only critical economic target Ukraine has prioritized in its recent drone offensive. Ukrainian forces have also repeatedly targeted Russian oil infrastructure, the backbone of Russia’s state revenue and global economic power as one of the world’s top energy producers. On Wednesday, unconfirmed reports emerged of a large fire at an oil refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, an area that has faced multiple Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months. Regional governor Gleb Nikitin confirmed an attack had caused damage to an unspecified industrial facility, but offered no further details on the site’s identity or the extent of destruction.

    The latest wave of drone strikes comes amid consistent heavy exchanges of fire across the conflict. Russia has responded to the nightly drone assaults with large-scale missile and bomb attacks on Ukrainian territory, launching volleys of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, glide bombs and jet-powered drones that have killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians since the full-scale invasion began. On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its air defense systems shot down 426 Ukrainian drones overnight across 15 Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine has stated its strategy of launching mass drone attacks nearly every night is designed to overwhelm Russian air defense networks, increasing the likelihood that drones reach their intended targets.

    In the wake of the strike, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already issued a new decree that allows the Russian state to seize control of private infrastructure damaged in Ukrainian drone attacks, according to related reporting on the conflict.

  • Canada’s retaliation tests the limit of American power under Trump

    Canada’s retaliation tests the limit of American power under Trump

    The fragile landscape of US-Canada trade relations collapsed abruptly over the weekend, with a leaked set of private comments from US Vice-President JD Vance adding fuel to already tense negotiations that ultimately ended in a full breakdown and new reciprocal tariffs.

    Two days before Canadian negotiators walked away from the table, Vance told attendees at a closed-door private fundraiser that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was a “very sweet guy” who puts on a tough performance to outmatch former president and current White House incumbent Donald Trump. Vance dismissed this posturing as hilarious, adding that Canadian officials ultimately back down on most contentious trade issues. The private remarks, captured on an audio recording leaked to Canada’s national press, spread rapidly across Canadian media outlets. While analysts do not label the comments as the direct cause of the negotiation breakdown, they are widely agreed to have poisoned the atmosphere for talks.

    The sudden end to negotiations for a updated bilateral trade deal has triggered a new cycle of retaliatory tariffs between the two countries, which share more than $872 billion in annual two-way trade. This deepening rift is the latest example of the second Trump administration’s approach to global diplomacy, which applies aggressive pressure to both allies and adversaries alike – and underscores the significant unintended disruptive risks that come with this strategy.

    What is more, the Trump administration’s core assumption that Canada would quickly cave to US pressure, as many other US allies have done over the past 19 months of Trump’s second term, appears to be a critical miscalculation. The fallout from this misjudgment could shape bilateral relations for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

    Cross-border trade friction between the two nations is not a new development. Tensions stretch back to Trump’s first term, when the United States renegotiated the 1990s North American Free Trade Agreement into the updated US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a process marked by open personal friction between Trump and then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Ahead of Trump’s 2024 return to the White House, he infamously mocked Trudeau as the “governor” of America’s so-called 51st state, Canada.

    These public insults reflect a broader Trump administration geopolitical framework that frames the US as the dominant hemispheric power entitled to exert political, military and economic influence over its immediate neighbors. Senior administration officials have repeatedly argued that Canada contributes far too little to regional collective defense while reaping outsized economic benefits from open trade with the US. In Trump’s worldview, economic security and national security are inseparable, making Canada and Mexico – America’s two largest trading partners – natural early targets for renegotiation and pressure. This same framework underpinned Trump’s public comment that he wanted to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

    “If you listen to really anybody in state, treasury, or commerce [departments], you will hear the phrase ‘economic security is national security’,” explained Drew Delong, head of corporate statecraft at the Kearney Foresight think tank.

    By the start of 2026, while North American trade negotiations lurched forward in uneven stops and starts, Trump’s foreign policy attention shifted away from Canada to military interventions in Venezuela and later the Middle East. Even across disparate regions, however, the core pillar of Trump’s international strategy remains unchanged: the US is a global power that can impose its will to advance its own national interests. But this approach is increasingly running into hard limits, and Trump’s second term has become a sustained test of where those boundaries lie.

    While there are obvious gaps between an active military conflict in Iran and a trade dispute with a close neighbor, the core strategic lesson is surprisingly similar: in both cases, the US faces a counterpart that, despite holding far less overall power, still retains meaningful tools to retaliate against American pressure. For Iran, that leverage comes from targeting US regional allies and disrupting global energy trade by threatening the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints. For Canada, that means leveraging its position as a key economic and trade partner to inflict tangible damage on the US economy. Canada’s new round of targeted tariffs, announced this week, is just the first step; future measures could include cutting off US access to Canadian energy supplies, critical mineral exports, and even widespread consumer boycotts of American-made goods.

    “As the broader world shifts into a more economic security theatre, you see this game of chokepoints and leverage angles continue to pan out across supply chains,” DeLong noted, adding that nations around the globe are now actively identifying these tools to push back against great power pressure.

    At present, clear offramps to de-escalation are scarce. Trump has ramped up his aggressive rhetoric, repeatedly claiming Canada is “ripping off” the US economy, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded with a blunt rebuke, telling the American president to “kiss my ass”.

    “Every time we push allies and partners away, I think we incentivise them to look for new relationships and new partnerships rather than trying to acquiesce to US demands,” said Imran Bayoumi, deputy director of the GeoStrategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

    Despite the escalating rhetoric, there remains a window for cooler heads to restart negotiations. Canada’s new tariffs will not go into effect for another two weeks, and the Trump administration’s most significant proposed retaliatory measure – a 25% universal tariff on all Canadian-built vehicles and auto parts – will not take effect until early 2027. While cycles of escalation are notoriously difficult to break in any conflict, whether economic or military, this multi-month gap before the next major tariff increase gives negotiating teams time to restart discussions. Before the breakdown late last week, talks had actually been showing incremental signs of progress.

    The more pressing timeline shaping the current standoff is the upcoming November 2026 US midterm elections. If Democrats score major congressional victories, they could significantly curtail Trump’s policy authority. Conversely, unexpected strong results for Republicans would likely embolden the White House to take an even harder line with Canada. Right now, the Canadian government in Ottawa is betting on a Democratic wave, calculating that Trump will back down before election day to avoid economic pain for voters in key industrial swing states such as Michigan and Ohio that would be hit hard by continuing trade tensions.

    “I don’t think there’s the kind of internal political divisions in Canada that maybe the Trump administration would have expected,” Bayoumi said. “I think Carney has a lot of political runway to really get a good deal for Canada and not settle for anything less.”

    Still, another long-term outcome is increasingly possible, one that Prime Minister Carney has publicly acknowledged since Trump returned to office: Canada could permanently shift its economic and diplomatic alignment away from the United States, deliberately widening the gap between the two nations. “We cannot depend on traditional alliances when the rules of the game have fundamentally changed,” Carney has argued. While geographic proximity will ensure the two countries remain tied in many ways, the deeply integrated bilateral economic relationship built over the past three decades may be reaching its end.

    This trajectory puts Canada in stark contrast to Mexico, which has moved toward closer economic integration with the US in recent months. Meanwhile, other US allies across Europe and Asia are closely watching Canada’s confrontational approach to Washington as a potential blueprint for their own future dealings with the Trump administration.

    “Ten years from now, this is going to be taught in classrooms,” DeLong said. “You have these bifurcating paths within North America, and the question is: Are they going to come back together, or is this going to continue to split? And if it does, who benefits most in the long run?”

    If even traditionally diplomatic, close ally Canada is willing to stand up to a more aggressive United States, other nations may well draw the same conclusion and follow suit.

  • The epic La Tomatina food fight draws thousands to a small Spanish town

    The epic La Tomatina food fight draws thousands to a small Spanish town

    BUNOL, Spain – On the last Wednesday of August 2026, tens of thousands of travelers and festival-goers flooded the tiny eastern Spanish town of Buñol, ready to take part in the world’s largest and most iconic food battle: the annual La Tomatina tomato fight. Organizers prepared to unleash 165 tons of soft, overripe tomatoes for the hour-long chaotic celebration, transforming the town’s narrow streets into a sea of bright red pulp by the end of the event.

    Local authorities and residents take specific precautions ahead of every festival, covering every building along the fight route with heavy waterproof tarps to protect structures from sticky tomato residue. The event carries a long, storied history dating back to an impromptu street food fight that broke out among local young people in 1945. What began as a spontaneous outburst of community fun grew into a beloved yearly tradition, until it was banned entirely in the 1950s during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. It was not until the 1980s, when widespread televised coverage brought the quirky festival to national attention, that La Tomatina grew into a global cultural attraction drawing visitors from across the world.

    This year, organizers expect more than 20,000 participants to squeeze into Buñol’s fight zone. Data from Spanish national news agency EFE shows that over the past three years, nearly 40 percent of attendees have been international tourists traveling to Spain specifically for the event. In recent years, the festival has seen a dramatic surge in visitors from India, a shift widely traced to the 2011 Bollywood blockbuster *Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara* (You Only Live Once). The film, which follows three friends on a Spanish road trip for a final bachelor party, includes a famous scene recreating La Tomatina, introducing the iconic festival to millions of Indian moviegoers.

    That pop culture introduction was what brought 27-year-old Mumbai clothing business owner Romail Khokhar to Buñol for his third La Tomatina on Wednesday. Waiting for the fight to kick off, Khokhar shared his enthusiasm for the one-of-a-kind event: “I feel really great, actually. It’s the best festival that I ever had, and I enjoy a lot here.”

    La Tomatina’s global fame has inspired copycat tomato-flinging events across six continents, with similar celebrations held in cities including Florida, London, Amsterdam, the Colombian town of Sutamarchán, and Hyderabad, India. None, however, match the scale and legacy of the original event in Buñol.

    To keep the day as safe as possible, event organizers enforce only one core rule: all participants must squash their tomatoes before throwing them to reduce the risk of injury from hard, solid fruit. Even with that rule, most attendees come prepared, wearing disposable swimming goggles and earplugs to block out sticky pulp and acidic juice. Non-local participants are required to purchase a 15-euro (approximately $17.50 USD) entry ticket, which helps organizers manage crowd sizes and fund cleanup operations after the event.

    After exactly 60 minutes of chaotic throwing, a single cannon blast signals the end of the fight. Participants then head to communal public showers set up around the town to wash off tomato juice and pulp, while municipal crews move in to spray down the entire street with high-pressure hoses. Surprisingly, while tomato stains often set permanently on clothing, the citric acid found in tomato juice acts as a natural cleaning and degreasing agent, leaving Buñol’s streets cleaner than they were before the festival began.

  • Heavy casualties feared as flash flood sweeps across parts of northern Nepal

    Heavy casualties feared as flash flood sweeps across parts of northern Nepal

    A catastrophic flash flood that swept through remote districts of northern Nepal early Wednesday has left entire communities submerged, critical infrastructure destroyed, and dozens of people unaccounted for, with emergency officials warning the final casualty toll could be severe.

    The disaster struck Rasuwa district, a mountainous border region located roughly 60 miles north of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu that shares a frontier with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and serves as the backbone of Nepal-China trade routes. According to local disaster officials, the flood originated when sudden glacial melt from the Himalayan plateau surged into the Bhote Koshi River, which flows across the border into Nepal, triggering a fast-moving wall of water that overwhelmed river banks and downstream communities.

    In the hours after the flood hit, initial reports paint a grim picture of destruction. Entire villages along the river have been washed away, and a major hydropower dam in the region has sustained significant damage, raising further risks of downstream flooding for low-lying areas. Several districts along the river’s lower course have already been placed on the highest level of alert, as authorities work to evacuate at-risk populations.
    Narendra Pariyar, chief district officer of Rasuwa, told reporters that it remains too early to calculate the full scope of damage, though preliminary assessments confirm destruction is widespread. As of Thursday morning, search and rescue teams have pulled 12 people from flood-hit areas, but operations have been hampered by damaged communication infrastructure, which has left large swathes of the district without mobile or radio signal.

    That communication blackout has left families and employers waiting for news of missing loved ones and workers. Yee Liang, a Chinese business owner based in Kathmandu, told the BBC his logistics firm had seven container trucks operating along the flood-hit trade route when the disaster hit, with all seven Nepali crew members unaccounted for. “There was no warning ahead of the flood,” Yee said. “While occasional mudslides and landslides are common here during monsoon season, this event is far more severe than anything we have seen in recent years.”
    Authorities confirmed Thursday that 13 armed police officers stationed at two outposts in Rasuwa are officially missing, and dozens of additional law enforcement personnel deployed across the district have also not been reached. Nepal’s federal disaster management authority has issued an urgent advisory urging all residents living along river banks in high-risk zones to move to higher ground immediately and take emergency precautions.

    Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah held an emergency cabinet meeting shortly after the disaster to coordinate response efforts, announcing in a subsequent social media post that search and rescue operations are already underway in partnership with local medical teams, scout organizations, and the Nepal Red Cross Society.
    This is not the first major flood to hit Rasuwa in the last 12 months. In 2025, a similar glacial outburst flood originating on the Chinese side of the border killed 18 people in the district. But officials familiar with the situation told the BBC Wednesday’s disaster is already on track to be far deadlier and more destructive than last year’s event, highlighting the growing risk of glacial melt-driven disasters in the Himalayan region as global temperatures rise.

  • Dolly Parton was the one thing most Americans could agree on

    Dolly Parton was the one thing most Americans could agree on

    When news of Dolly Parton’s passing broke this week, Americans across every political and cultural divide united in grief, celebrating the life of a one-of-a-kind entertainer whose legacy stretched far beyond the country music stage. To the world, Parton was many things: a genre-defying musician, a Hollywood star, a shrewd business leader, and a dedicated philanthropist whose giving lifted millions. One title she never claimed, however, was politician – a choice that became the foundation of her rare, cross-cutting appeal in an increasingly divided nation.

    The question of public office has followed Parton for decades. Back in 1999, during an appearance on the talk show *Prime Time Country!*, a young audience member asked if she would ever run for political office. With her signature sharp, warm wit, Parton demurred, quipping: “I think of myself more as a diplomat. That’s the kind of people who tell you to go to hell in such a way you look forward to the trip.”

    That self-described diplomacy turned Parton into a rare unicorn in modern American society. Her fanbase spanned generations, from great-grandmothers to Gen Z fans, and included Republicans and Democrats, drag performers and evangelical Christians alike. For Sarah Phillips, an Indiana University professor who made Parton the subject of an acclaimed anthropology course, the icon’s ability to bridge deep political and cultural divides was unparalleled. Phillips, who still struggles to refer to Parton in the past tense, says she broke down in tears in her office when she heard the news of her death, a testament to how deeply Parton touched even those who study her career academically.

    Public opinion data bears out that unprecedented cross-group appeal. A recent YouGov poll put Parton’s net approval rating at 65% – far outpacing major figures from across the political and entertainment spectrum: former President Barack Obama scored 14%, pop star Taylor Swift earned 3%, former President Donald Trump hit -19%, and current President Joe Biden landed at -18%.

    Parton’s universal appeal stemmed from a deliberate, consistent choice: she refused to pick sides in partisan politics, wary of alienating the broad community of fans that supported her. “I’ve got as many Republican fans as Democrats and I don’t want to make any of them mad at me, so I don’t play politics,” she once told Fox News. That commitment to neutrality even led her to turn down one of the nation’s highest civilian honors twice: she declined offers of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, citing scheduling and health concerns, and later turned it down from Joe Biden as well, to avoid appearing to favor one party over the other.

    Yet to frame Parton as apolitical would be a mistake. While she avoided partisan clashes, she spoke openly and consistently on core social issues, including women’s rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and Black Lives Matter. Phillips argues that this combination of refusal to align with a partisan camp and commitment to speaking her truth is what made her so widely beloved.

    “She has always been a model for women, carving your own path, looking out for yourself, making sure that you retain the rights to your intellectual property, looking out for your own financial and creative independence,” Phillips told the BBC. “And if that’s not feminism, I don’t know what is.”

    Parton broke the mold of country music stardom from the earliest days of her career. After rising to become a crossover pop sensation in 1977, she retained her loyal country audience while growing her global following. Three years later, she made her film debut alongside Jane Fonda in the workplace rights comedy *9 to 5*. At the time, Fonda was widely shunned in conservative circles for her anti-Vietnam War activism, but Parton refused to distance herself from her co-star to appease fans. “I respect anybody’s beliefs and the fact that they’re willing to stand up for whatever it is. But I’m also the kind of person that if I don’t like where you got it, I can tell you where to put it,” she said at the time. Following Parton’s death, Fonda paid tribute, writing: “She is woven into all our lives and hearts forever.”

    Parton’s carefully cultivated public image – glamorous, camp, and endlessly warm – was no accident. A shrewd entrepreneur who understood both showbusiness and human nature, she intentionally crafted a persona that brought people together. When journalist Barbara Walters questioned her over-the-top aesthetic in a 1977 interview, asking if Parton saw herself as a joke, Parton pushed back with characteristic confidence. “Everybody thinks that the joke’s on me, but in fact, the joke is on the public. I know very well what I’m doing, and I can change my image any time I want to,” she told Walters. Phillips notes that moment was a perfect demonstration of Parton’s self-possession: she was always in control of her own narrative.

    Over decades, journalists repeatedly tried to draw Parton into partisan political fights, but she always pivoted away, using humor and self-deprecation as her shields. At a 2016 press conference, when asked about the presidential race, she joked: “I’ve been thinking about running myself… we could use a few more boobs in the race.” Though Parton’s father campaigned for his daughter in his own way, driving around town with a “Dolly for President” bumper sticker, she never pursued public office.

    Instead, she channeled her energy and fortune into philanthropy, work rooted in her own experience growing up in abject poverty in rural Appalachian Tennessee. One of 12 children raised in a one-bedroom log cabin, Parton never forgot her roots. When her career took off, she employed dozens of family members in her businesses and invested heavily in her local community. In 1986, she purchased a struggling mountain theme park near her hometown, rebranding it Dollywood – today, it remains the largest employer in the entire county. She also founded the Imagination Library, a program that mails free books to children around the world, and contributed critical early funding to the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

    Those who worked with Parton highlight her quiet, personal kindness, which extended far beyond large charitable donations. James Rogers, board president of the American Eagle Foundation, which partners with Dollywood on a bald eagle sanctuary, recalled a decades-old encounter that stuck with him. When Parton arrived for a performance, she spotted Rogers, his wife, and his 10-year-old daughter Heather waiting off to the side, and stopped her entire entourage to kneel down and talk to the little girl one on one. “She’s even sweeter than you realise,” Rogers said.

    Phillips, who grew up in the North Carolina mountains just across the valley from Parton’s Tennessee hometown, describes Parton’s approach to contentious issues as “Dollitics” – a term coined by Parton’s nephew that captures her commitment to lifting everyone up, rather than defeating political opponents. “She wants all boats to rise,” Phillips said.

    Phillips added that Parton embodied the core, old-fashioned American Dream: the idea that with talent and relentless hard work, anyone can build the life they want. And unlike so many public figures, Parton was truly one of a kind. When Phillips traveled through Europe this summer, she asked audiences across France and Poland to name their own country’s Dolly Parton. No one ever had an answer. There will never be another like her.

  • America unites in mourning for Dolly Parton

    America unites in mourning for Dolly Parton

    The United States has come together in a rare moment of cross-ideological unity to mourn the passing of Dolly Parton, the iconic country music singer and cultural treasure who died at the age of 80. For decades, Parton stood out as one of the only public figures beloved by people across the political, social and cultural spectrum, and tributes poured in this week from current and former presidents, A-list entertainers, and global business leaders alike.

    Political figures from both major U.S. political parties put aside divides to honor Parton’s legacy. Former President Donald Trump, who ordered all U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff for seven days in her memory, called her passing “a true loss for millions of people.” In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away. There has never been anyone like her, and never will.”

    His Democratic predecessor Joe Biden echoed that sentiment, describing Parton as “an American original” who built her career on treating every person she met with consistent kindness and respect. Republican former President George W. Bush highlighted Parton’s decades of philanthropic work, which included initiatives to boost literacy across the U.S., expand access to healthcare, and strengthen local communities. Democratic former President Bill Clinton simply called her “one of a kind,” while New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised her as “an irreplaceable champion of the working class,” adding, “We are a better country because of her.”

    Tributes from the global entertainment industry reflected the deep, cross-genre influence Parton built over her 60-plus year career. Miley Cyrus, who counted Parton as her godmother, shared her grief on social platform X, writing, “So many evil people in this world and we had to lose a pure heart like Dolly Parton. Devastating day for humanity.”

    Taylor Swift, the global pop superstar who launched her career in country music, said a world without Parton “doesn’t feel possible, real, or right,” adding in a statement to entertainment outlets *Variety* and *The Hollywood Reporter* that “Her legacy will be an everlasting one.” Beyoncé, who collaborated with Parton on her Grammy-winning 2024 album *Cowboy Carter*, called Parton “Bold and brilliant. Talented and tenacious. You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself.”

    Rock musician Jack White, who recorded a popular cover of Parton’s iconic hit “Jolene,” called for Parton’s “instant sainthood” in an Instagram post. Country rapper Kid Rock, who worked with Parton on multiple projects, called her “quite simply the greatest of all time,” writing, “Thanks for the songs, the laughs, the humility and grace. Without a doubt a woman who God truly has his hands on.”

    Many artists who worked with Parton highlighted her warm, generous spirit as much as her artistic talent. Country star Carrie Underwood noted that Parton “was probably the one person on planet Earth that everyone loved and could agree on.” Young pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who collaborated with Parton in 2024, recalled their first meeting and described Parton as “an angel walking the earth,” writing on Instagram, “Your light will be something the world will search forever to find again.”

    Jane Fonda, who starred alongside Parton in the hit 1980 comedy *9 to 5*, said Parton would remain a permanent part of public life: “Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever.” Julia Roberts, Parton’s co-star in *Steel Magnolias*, called her “a magical and joyous human.” Country star Jason Aldean, who met Parton multiple times over his career, wrote on X, “She was truly a bright light that shined just a little brighter than anyone else in the room.”

    Even iconic artists outside of country and pop shared their grief. Former Beatle Paul McCartney recalled meeting Parton early in her career, writing on Instagram that “she was so bubbly and full of life it is difficult to take in the news that she has passed.” Rapper Eminem praised Parton for the personal note she sent him when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, writing on X, “She definitely didn’t have to take the time to do it. Even for a kid who mostly listened to rap music, she was an icon. A superstar in every sense.”

    Leaders of the global business community also joined in paying tribute to Parton’s legacy. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said he and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos were “so grateful to have known her.” Apple CEO Tim Cook called Parton a “brilliant songwriter, cultural icon and dedicated philanthropist” whose music “helped light up the world.”

    As fans gathered at Parton’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star in Los Angeles to leave flowers and handwritten tributes, the cross-cultural outpouring of grief underscored the unique place Parton held in American life: a unifying figure whose talent, generosity and authenticity transcended the divides that often split the nation.

  • Sri Lanka reaches 83-2 at lunch on Day 4 after India enforces follow on in 2nd cricket test

    Sri Lanka reaches 83-2 at lunch on Day 4 after India enforces follow on in 2nd cricket test

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The second Test match between India and Sri Lanka entered its fourth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club with India holding a commanding position over the host nation, after the visitors enforced a follow-on and put Sri Lanka under intense pressure ahead of the mid-session break on Day 4.

    The day began with Sri Lanka resuming on 265 for eight wickets in their first innings, still 39 runs short of the total required to avoid being forced to bat a second time immediately following India. Lower-middle order batsman Sonal Dinusha, who had already notched one century and an 84-run innings in India’s 165-run win in the first Test at Galle, was closing in on another hundred to anchor Sri Lanka’s fightback. He received gritty support from fast bowler Lahiru Kumara, who defied India’s bowling attack for 58 deliveries to scrape together 12 runs.

    Off-spinner Saransh Jain eventually broke Sri Lanka’s resistance, picking up the final two wickets of the first innings to wrap up the host’s total at 290. First, he claimed the scalp of Kumara, who was caught behind by wicketkeeper Druv Jurel. Jain then trapped Dinusha out caught by KL Rahul for a well-compiled 103 off 162 deliveries, which included three sixes and eight boundaries. This marked Dinusha’s second century of the bilateral series, keeping alive his impressive run of form against the world’s top-ranked Test side.

    Fast bowler Prasidh Krishna finished with figures of three wickets for 52 runs, while left-arm spinner Manav Suthar matched Krishna’s haul with three wickets for 85 runs. Jain ended the first innings with 2 wickets for 69 runs. With India declaring their first innings on 503 for nine, Sri Lanka’s first innings deficit stood at 213 runs, forcing captain Rohit Sharma to enforce the follow-on as Sri Lanka headed straight back into the batting crease.

    Sri Lanka’s second innings got off to a disastrous start immediately after the change of innings. Opening batsman Lahiru Udara attempted a hook shot against pace bowler Mohammed Siraj, but only managed to pick out the fielder at square leg to leave Sri Lanka reeling at five runs for one wicket. Opener Kamil Mishara fell next, trapped leg before wicket for 32 by veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, ending a 58-run stand for the second wicket with Pasindu Sooriyabandara. Sooriyabandara survived two dropped catching chances during his innings to reach the lunch break unbeaten.

    By the Wednesday lunch interval, Sri Lanka had moved to 83 for two wickets in their second innings, still trailing India by 130 runs overall. Sooriyabandara remained not out on 35, while Kamindu Mendis was unbeaten on 10 at the break, with Sri Lanka yet to complete the mammoth task of erasing India’s lead and setting a competitive target for the visitors.

  • Robert Mantini pleads guilty to killing missing friend Adrian Romeo in accidental shooting

    Robert Mantini pleads guilty to killing missing friend Adrian Romeo in accidental shooting

    A bitter $400 dispute over unpaid speeding fines between two long-time close friends ended in a fatal accidental shooting, followed by an extensive attempt to cover up the crime, Victoria’s Supreme Court has been told this week.

    On Wednesday, 61-year-old Robert Mantini appeared for sentencing submissions after entering a guilty plea to a charge of homicide by firearm. His co-accused, 66-year-old Shane Dalton, also pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact, for aiding Mantini’s efforts to evade law enforcement in the months following the 2024 killing.

    The victim, 42-year-old Adrian Romeo, was described in court as a devoted family man caring for his aging parents when he disappeared in February 2024, shortly after leaving his parents’ home in his father’s gold Toyota Camry. Months after his disappearance, search teams located partially burned human remains near a creek bank on a Wildwood farm, on Melbourne’s outer northwestern fringe, which were later confirmed to belong to Romeo.

    Crown prosecutor Erin Ramsey outlined to the court that the friendship between Romeo and Mantini collapsed in October 2023, when a financial disagreement erupted over two speeding fines totaling roughly $400. According to Ramsey’s account, Romeo had hired a vehicle for Mantini, but Romeo told associates Mantini had refused to cover the cost of the speeding infringements issued to the car. The dispute simmered for months, until February 10, 2024, when Romeo drove to Mantini’s Greenvale residence armed with the fine documents and his phone to confront Mantini.

    Witnesses told the court that when Romeo arrived, Mantini told him to be silent, snatched the infringement paperwork, and left the room. He returned minutes later holding a loaded pump-action shotgun, screaming and calling Romeo a derogatory term. Romeo begged Mantini not to act recklessly, then complied when Mantini ordered him to leave. As Romeo turned his back toward the exit and walked away, the shotgun discharged accidentally, striking him in the back and killing him instantly, Ramsey said.

    In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Mantini recruited his son Luca Mantini – who has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing in connection with the case – to help clean blood from the property and drag Romeo’s body to the gold Toyota Camry. Mantini then contacted Dalton, who arrived quickly at the property and the pair drove in convoy to the Wildwood farm. Once there, Mantini cut up both the vehicle and Romeo’s body, burned the remains, and later sold the charred wreckage of the car as scrap metal. Only 0.47 percent of Romeo’s remains have been recovered and returned to his family, a detail that members of Romeo’s family heard confirmed publicly for the first time during Wednesday’s court proceedings.

    Ramsey argued that Mantini took deliberate, extraordinarily brutal steps to cover up his responsibility for the shooting. “The disposal of the vehicle and body was particularly callous,” she told the court.

    Dalton’s role in the cover-up included supplying a commercial-grade saw for Mantini to use, providing false information to law enforcement, and making two trips to the Wildwood farm to support Mantini. Prosecutors have not alleged that Dalton personally took part in destroying Romeo’s body or the vehicle.

    Romeo’s older brother told the court that within days of his brother’s disappearance, he suspected foul play and reported his concerns to police, who asked him to keep the investigation confidential. For six months leading up to the recovery of remains, he said he carried the secret burden of knowing harm had come to his brother, while his elderly parents continued to wait, worry, and hope that their son would return home safely.

    Defense barrister Michael McGrath, representing Mantini, acknowledged that the loss of Romeo has left a permanent, devastating impact on the victim’s family. McGrath noted that his client experienced a severely disadvantaged childhood, and lived for years under the weight of a potential murder charge before prosecutors accepted that the shooting was accidental. He urged Justice Kerri Judd not to allow Mantini’s actions after the shooting to overshadow the fact that the killing itself was accidental. “We don’t dispute the facts of what occurred after the incident, but we caution against the court placing excess weight or undue weight on post offence conduct,” McGrath said. “This is a case where Mr Mantini has clearly undertaken efforts to distance himself from this incident, accidental as it was.”

    Moya O’Brien, representing Dalton, told the court that her client’s actions stemmed from “misguided loyalty” to his friend, and that Dalton was struggling with active methamphetamine addiction at the time of the crime. “(He) thinks what happened to Adrian was disgusting. Mr Dalton is ashamed for his own conduct in this matter,” O’Brien said. She added that Dalton also faced a traumatic, deprived childhood, and had worked for years to escape poverty before succumbing to substance use disorder that led to his involvement in the crime. O’Brien urged the justice to consider the limited scope of Dalton’s role when determining his sentence.

    Justice Judd has announced she will deliver her sentencing decision at a future date.

  • Indian jewellery ad pulled after backlash over actor’s outfit

    Indian jewellery ad pulled after backlash over actor’s outfit

    A controversy over sartorial freedom and cultural sensitivity has erupted in India after a major jewellery brand withdrew its Rakshabandhan festival advertisement, triggering a fierce national debate over women’s autonomy over their clothing choices. The pulled campaign for domestic jewellery brand Giva centered on popular Bollywood star Kriti Sanon, who was featured marking the traditional Hindu festival — where sisters tie a sacred rakhi thread around their brothers’ wrists to symbolize mutual protection and affection. The backlash against the ad focused on two points of criticism: Sanon’s modern cropped top and draped skirt ensemble, and a separate scene that showed her tying a rakhi to her pet dog.
    The controversy ignited early this week when actor and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Kangana Ranaut publicly condemned the spot, describing it as “intentionally creepy” and questioning why a woman would tie a rakhi in what she framed as bikini-adjacent undergarments. Though Ranaut did not name Sanon directly, her social media post left no ambiguity about the target of her criticism. “It is a wonderful time to be a woman, our closets are full of a variety of clothes… From all the options that are available to us today why would you tie your brother a Rakhi in your bikini/under garments? Where are all your styling options?” Ranaut wrote.
    Ranaut’s remarks quickly went viral, drawing both agreement and fierce pushback across Indian social media. Conservative social media users echoed her criticism, arguing that Sanon’s outfit was inappropriate for a sacred traditional festival. One commentator referred to Sanon’s top as a bralette, writing on X that “there is a clear line between modern styling and basic sensitivity towards Hindu festivals,” adding that pairing the garment with a Rakshabandhan campaign felt “completely out of touch and unnecessary.” Critics also raised objections to the scene of Sanon tying a rakhi to her pet, arguing it diluted the festival’s focus on sibling bonds.
    But Sanon quickly hit back at her critics, issuing a defiant defense of her choices that quickly won widespread support from advocates of women’s rights. In an Instagram story posted Tuesday night, the actor called out the pervasive cultural mindset that judges women’s respect for tradition solely based on their clothing. “The essence of festivals is not in the clothes you wear, it is in the emotions and meaning you hold for the traditions… When will we stop telling women what to wear?? Ethnic fashion has evolved over the years, but still a woman’s respect for her culture is measured with just her clothes!! Culture & Traditions are in her heart, not in her neckline!” Sanon wrote.
    Addressing the controversy over tying a rakhi to her pet, Sanon added that the core spirit of Rakshabandhan is protecting all loved ones, a category that extends to furry family members for many modern people. Sanon’s stance received high-profile backing, including from opposition Congress party MP Rahul Gandhi, who affirmed that a woman’s clothing choice is entirely her own. Other critics hit back at Ranaut for what they called moral policing, also pointing out that Ranaut frequently wore short and Western-style outfits throughout her early acting career, shifting to more conservative clothing only after entering politics.
    Despite Sanon’s spirited defense, Giva announced Wednesday that it would withdraw the advertisement from all media platforms. In a public statement posted to Instagram, the brand emphasized its longstanding respect for Indian culture and traditions, noting that it had intended to expand the spirit of Rakshabandhan celebration to include pets as beloved family members. “If our recent advertisement has inadvertently hurt the sentiments of some segments of society, that was not our intent at all. Out of respect, we have withdrawn the advertisement from all media,” the brand added.
    The incident is far from unprecedented for Indian brands: in 2020, leading jewellery brand Tanishq pulled an advertisement featuring an interfaith couple after facing widespread backlash from right-wing social media groups. The current controversy also reflects a years-long pattern of charged national debates over women’s clothing in India. In 2021, a 19-year-old student was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs to sit an exam after a teacher objected to her wearing shorts, sparking national outrage. Later that same year, thousands of women shared photos of themselves in ripped jeans on social media after the chief minister of the northern state of Uttarakhand publicly shamed a woman for wearing the garment. Last year, a beauty pageant contestant won national praise after pushing back against a group of men who bullied contestants for wearing skirts and Western dresses.

  • Teenage cyclist dies after hit-and-run collision

    Teenage cyclist dies after hit-and-run collision

    A fatal hit-and-run incident has claimed the life of a teenage cyclist in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, leaving local law enforcement appealing for public assistance to track down the responsible driver.

    Gardaí, Ireland’s national police service, confirmed that the collision between a white van and a bicycle took place at approximately 20:05 local time on Tuesday in the rural area of Nugentstown, just outside Kells. First responders who arrived at the scene pronounced the victim, a male in his late teens, dead at the site.

    In a departure from standard protocol for traffic collisions, the driver of the van involved in the crash fled the area immediately after the incident, failing to stop at the scene as required under Irish road traffic law. As of Wednesday morning, the road where the collision occurred remained fully closed to all through traffic, as officials from the Garda’s forensic collision investigation unit carry out a detailed examination of the site.

    The office of the coroner, which oversees investigations into sudden and unexpected deaths in Ireland, has already been notified of the fatality.

    Investigating officers have issued a public appeal for anyone who was in the Nugentstown area around the time of the incident to come forward with information. Specifically, Gardaí are asking any motorists who were traveling through the area that have dash camera footage, or any members of the public who captured mobile phone recordings of the van or the collision scene before officers arrived, to share that material with investigators. Anyone with information can contact the local Garda station in Kells to provide details anonymously or on the record.