Global Pulse

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  • Seattle pays tribute to food festival shooting victims

    Seattle pays tribute to food festival shooting victims

    On Sunday, a sudden and deadly street gunfight shattered the final day of Seattle’s iconic annual Bite of Seattle food festival, a beloved three-day free community event that draws more than 350,000 attendees each year, held just steps from the city’s famous Space Needle. By the time the gunfire ceased, three people were left dead and four others wounded, sending shockwaves across the Pacific Northwest community that left local leaders and residents grappling with senseless loss.

    The following Monday, the entire city of Seattle entered a collective period of mourning as residents gathered to honor the three lives cut short by the violence. A candlelight vigil at a downtown fountain drew dozens of attendees, including Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and the city’s police chief, where participants laid down flowers, lit candles in memory of the victims, and observed a moment of collective silence to process their grief.

    The three victims have been identified as 19-year-old Junior Cee Niko Semo, 44-year-old Carlos Israel Sanchez Villalba, and 56-year-old Ashley Whitehead. According to law enforcement investigations, Semo, the youngest victim, is suspected to have been one of the active participants in the gunfight. To date, one additional suspect has been taken into police custody, while a third remains at large, with ongoing investigations continuing to unfold.

    For the two innocent bystander victims, community members have stepped forward to support their grieving families through online crowdfunding campaigns, which have already raised tens of thousands of dollars in donations from across the country. A GoFundMe page set up for Villalba paints a portrait of a kind, generous man deeply devoted to his family. “He was a devoted husband, loving father of three, and a loyal friend who would do anything for anyone,” the page reads. “His kindness and generosity touched countless lives, and everyone who knew him remembers his gentle spirit and willingness to help others. His sudden passing has left his family heartbroken and facing an uncertain future.” All funds raised through the campaign will go toward covering Villalba’s funeral costs and supporting his wife and three children as they adjust to life without him.

    Whitehead, the second innocent bystander killed in the attack, had only recently relocated from Alabama to the West Coast to be closer to her eldest daughter, Zoie. She was standing in line with Zoie waiting to buy cotton candy when the gunfire broke out, cutting her life short. After being hit, Whitehead managed to exchange heartfelt “I love you”s with her daughter before being rushed to the hospital, where she died during emergency surgery. Her family described her as a passionate lover of life, art, and above all else, family, noting that family had always been the center of her world.

    Local and state leaders have joined residents in condemning the senseless violence that disrupted a landmark community celebration. “This is not acceptable,” Mayor Wilson told the gathered crowd at the vigil. “No father, no parent should have to bury their child.” Washington state Governor Bob Ferguson echoed that sentiment in a social media post Monday, writing that the entire community was reeling from the shock of the attack. “We are struggling to make sense of how an iconic community celebration could end in gunfire,” Ferguson wrote.

  • South Korean officials order residents to evacuate after reported white phosphorus leak at US base

    South Korean officials order residents to evacuate after reported white phosphorus leak at US base

    On Tuesday, local South Korean authorities issued a short-notice evacuation order for civilians following a reported leak of white phosphorus at a United States military installation located just outside of Seoul, the nation’s capital. The chemical release was detected at roughly 5 p.m. local time at Osan Air Base, situated in Pyeongtaek. Immediately after the report, Pyeongtaek city officials dispatched emergency alerts to nearby residents, urging them to relocate to designated safe zones and take all precautions to avoid direct skin contact with any potentially contaminated materials.

    Several hours after the initial evacuation order was put in place, city officials withdrew the directive via public text alert, confirming that full decontamination operations had been successfully completed. Local law enforcement moved quickly to secure the area, setting up a restricted perimeter stretching between 300 and 500 meters from the base boundary. Police blocked unauthorized pedestrian access and diverted road traffic away from the affected zone to prevent accidental exposure. As of initial assessments, no major accidents, infrastructure disruptions, or civilian injuries have been linked to the incident.

    The U.S. 51st Fighter Wing, the unit responsible for operations at Osan Air Base, released an official statement that did not explicitly confirm a white phosphorus leak. Instead, the wing described the event as a “ground mishap” and stated that the 300-meter safety cordon was established “out of an abundance of caution” to protect both base personnel and surrounding local communities. The statement also refuted circulating rumors that a full evacuation of the entire air base had been ordered.

    “We are handling this matter with the utmost care and expediency,” the statement read. “The safety and well-being of our service members, their families, and our Pyeongtaek neighbors remain our absolute highest priority.” U.S. Forces Korea, the unified command overseeing all American military deployments in South Korea, has declined to offer any additional comment or further clarification on the incident to date.

    White phosphorus is a highly controversial chemical compound widely used in military applications, including in incendiary munitions and smoke screening artillery rounds. When exposed to oxygen and ignited, it burns at extremely high temperatures capable of engulfing entire structures in fire and causing deep, life-threatening burns that penetrate all the way to human bone.

  • Firefighters say they’ve never seen anything like Spain’s record blaze

    Firefighters say they’ve never seen anything like Spain’s record blaze

    BARCELONA, Spain — For veteran Spanish wildland firefighter Javier García, 20 years of defending rural communities and wooded landscapes have prepared him for nothing that matches the scale of the historic megablaze burning through central Spain, west of the capital Madrid.

    In an interview ahead of another grueling 12-hour shift on the fire line, García described the unprecedented inferno as an event without any parallel in his decades of service. Currently, the out-of-control blaze has already scorched 500 square kilometers of terrain — an area five times larger than the entire city of Barcelona — and forced 25,000 residents to evacuate their villages across the smoldering hills of Ávila.

    The unprecedented ferocity of this wildfire, the largest ever recorded in Spain, has upended longstanding firefighting strategies. Fire commanders have been forced to completely shift operational priorities: evacuating at-risk communities and protecting populated property now take precedence over direct fire suppression, as fast-moving flame walls and extreme heat create deadly conditions that make frontal attacks on the blaze far too dangerous.

    García called the fire’s rapid spread alarming, noting a profound shift in how his brigade operates. Where once his team would advance to battle wildfires deep in wilderness areas, they now serve as a last line of defense focused exclusively on saving human lives. To date, no fatalities have been reported across the three active major blazes burning across Spain: the Ávila fire, a second blaze in the Madrid region, and a third in eastern Castellón. Combined, the three fires have forced nearly 79,000 people to leave their homes. “That gives us more work and more stress,” García explained. “Now it is lives first, then homes, and after, the forest.”

    García is part of Spain’s national emergency wildfire brigade, a mobile unit that deploys to support regional fire crews when blazes outgrow local capacity. Based in Ávila, his 40-person team has already spent three consecutive days battling the current inferno, after wrapping up assignments at two other recent major blazes in Guadalajara and near Zaragoza in recent weeks. The Guadalajara fire alone burned 320 square kilometers, making it the third largest wildfire recorded in Spanish history.

    “Until last year, I had never experienced fighting one big fire after another,” the 43-year-old firefighter said.

    Spain’s hot, dry summers have long made large swathes of the country naturally prone to wildfires. But climate experts and Spanish government officials confirm human-caused climate change has dramatically amplified risk: it has increased the frequency and intensity of heat waves and extended multi-year drought periods, stretching the annual high wildfire risk window far beyond historic norms. Once ignited, today’s wildfires grow at speeds and intensities that were rarely seen even a decade ago.

    García notes that where his team once faced roughly 15 days of extreme fire risk annually, that number has jumped to between 30 and 40 days a year. So far in 2025, wildfires across Spain have burned 1,530 square kilometers of land — six times the total area scorched by blazes in the first half of last year, according to Spanish Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen.

    Spain’s wildfire crisis is part of a broader regional emergency across southwestern Europe. A separate megablaze in neighboring France has already forced more than 200,000 people to evacuate their homes, prompting France to order an additional 4,000 evacuations as ongoing heat waves hamper fire suppression efforts.

    For Raúl Guerrero, a 29-year-old firefighter with 10 years of experience in Castilla y León, the autonomous region that includes Ávila, the current blaze is unlike any he has ever fought. Multiple times over the course of the response, his 40-person unit has been forced to retreat to safer ground when the fast-moving fire put them at risk of being trapped.

    He described the blaze as repeatedly exceeding Spain’s wildfire extinguishing capacity. “The fire is so virulent and has such power that no matter what you do, you can’t put it out,” he said. When asked about the emotional weight of that reality, Guerrero responded simply: “above all, impotent.”

    While wildfires are most often ignited by lightning or accidental sparks from agricultural equipment, firefighters and experts point to a second human-caused factor that has made modern blazes far more dangerous: the gradual abandonment of rural land use. For generations, small farms, orchards and local forestry industries created natural buffer zones of cleared land around villages and populated areas that slowed fire spread. As those industries have disappeared and rural populations have declined, unmanaged vegetation now grows right up to the edge of residential areas.

    Guerrero called this unmaintained overgrowth “pure gunpowder” waiting to ignite, and urged local authorities and private property owners to implement year-round brush clearing and forest management to reduce future risk.

    Across the Atlantic, the wildfire crisis is not limited to Europe: a major wildfire in the U.S. state of Oregon has forced the closure of 70 miles of a major interstate highway, demonstrating how extreme wildfire has become a global challenge driven by shifting climate patterns.

  • Drone footage shows burnt trees and scorched earth

    Drone footage shows burnt trees and scorched earth

    Newly released aerial drone footage has laid bare the devastating aftermath of ongoing wildfires tearing through French landscapes, offering a stark visual record of charred tree trunks stretching across thousands of acres and blackened, ash-covered earth where vibrant vegetation once grew. As a second record-breaking heatwave settles over southern Europe, pushing temperatures well above seasonal averages and drying out already parched vegetation, French fire service officials have described the ongoing battle to contain the blazes as a modern-day “David against Goliath.”

    Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed from neighboring regions and across the country to reinforce frontline teams, working around the clock to build containment lines and protect residential communities and protected natural habitats. Unseasonably high temperatures, combined with erratic gusty winds, have turned small spot fires into large, fast-moving infernos that are extremely difficult to predict or control. Fire service spokespersons note that under current climate conditions, the deck is stacked heavily against containment efforts, with dry underbrush and overheated air acting as constant fuel for new outbreaks.

    The ongoing heatwave has exacerbated already strained wildfire response resources, with emergency teams facing extended shift hours and limited downtime between outbreaks. Ecologists warn that this event is the latest in a growing pattern of more intense and frequent wildfire seasons across southern Europe, linked directly to long-term global climate change trends. Local authorities have urged residents to follow evacuation orders immediately and avoid unnecessary travel through high-risk fire zones, as response teams continue their uphill battle against the spreading blazes.

  • Kenya eyes Chinese investment to accelerate clean energy transition

    Kenya eyes Chinese investment to accelerate clean energy transition

    NAIROBI, Kenya – As East African nations race to scale up renewable energy adoption and cut carbon emissions, Kenya is actively courting Chinese capital and technical partnership to build a domestic clean energy manufacturing sector, advance its national energy transition, and cement its status as the region’s leading green industrial hub. The announcement came during Kenya Trade Week 2026, where dozens of Chinese clean energy firms showcased their latest solar power, grid infrastructure and electric mobility products to local industry stakeholders and government officials.

    Thomas Karungu, alternate director to the principal secretary at Kenya’s State Department for Energy, outlined the country’s value proposition for foreign investors in a recent address, noting that Kenya holds unique advantages for clean energy investment: it boasts one of the highest shares of renewable energy in its national electricity mix on the continent, with abundant untapped solar, geothermal, wind and hydropower resources. Complementing these natural assets are its strategic position as a gateway to the East African Community’s 300-million-plus consumer market, a rapidly growing domestic energy demand, and a slate of recently updated government policies designed to lower barriers for clean energy project development and manufacturing investment.

    Karungu emphasized that China, as a global leader in renewable energy innovation, large-scale equipment manufacturing, grid infrastructure deployment and energy storage technology, is uniquely positioned to support Kenya’s clean energy goals. Through local production, targeted technology transfer and cross-border industrial partnerships, Chinese firms can help Kenya turn its natural resource advantages into long-term industrial and economic gains, he added.

    The Kenyan government is prioritizing partnerships that foster local industrial capacity, Karungu explained. This includes supporting local assembly of clean energy equipment, domestic production of core components, knowledge and technology transfer, joint research and development initiatives, technical skills training for local workers, and the build-out of a localized regional supply chain. Specifically, the government is welcoming Chinese investment across a wide range of high-priority sectors: solar panel manufacturing, transformer and smart meter production, high-voltage transmission equipment, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, geothermal energy development, mini-grid deployment for off-grid rural communities, clean cooking technology, waste-to-energy projects, and digital electricity network management.

    These investments will deliver far-reaching benefits beyond expanding renewable energy access, Karungu noted. They will create thousands of local manufacturing and technical jobs, build long-term sustainable technical capacity within Kenya, and allow the country to become a central manufacturing and distribution hub for clean energy equipment serving the entire East African region.

    To meet the country’s rapidly growing domestic electricity demand, the Kenyan government has laid out an ambitious infrastructure expansion plan: by 2030, it aims to modernize and extend the national high-voltage transmission network by roughly 8,000 kilometers, and add approximately 12,000 megavolt-amperes of additional transmission capacity to the grid. Delivering this large-scale infrastructure push will require massive capital input, cutting-edge technology, specialized technical expertise, strong institutional collaboration, and sustained public-private partnership, Karungu said.

    “For global investors, financiers and clean energy project developers, Kenya has set a clear, unwavering direction for its energy transition,” Karungu stated. “Achieving our goal of universal electricity access, expanding our transmission network and meeting the rising energy demand of our growing economy will require substantial, active participation from the private sector.”

    Chinese firms already active in the Kenyan market say the country offers strong untapped business potential, even amid fierce competition among Chinese clean energy suppliers. Cao Wenjing, a representative of a Chinese renewable energy company that entered the Kenyan market in 2025 after expanding across other major African markets including Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe, noted that competition in the sector is intense, as most global clean energy equipment suppliers hail from China. Even so, Kenya’s exceptional solar resources, relatively high domestic electricity rates, and rapidly growing demand for both grid modernization and new renewable energy capacity continue to create attractive business opportunities for foreign firms, Cao added.

  • People trapped inside Japan shopping centre after earthquake

    People trapped inside Japan shopping centre after earthquake

    A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake has rattled southwestern Japan, triggering widespread structural damage, multiple injuries, and leaving an unknown number of people trapped inside a damaged regional shopping mall, Japanese government officials confirmed Tuesday. The seismic event struck inland on Kyushu Island at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT), with its epicenter located just 10 kilometers (six miles) below the Earth’s surface—a shallow depth that often amplifies the quake’s destructive power.\n\nLocal reports indicate an explosion occurred at the Aeon Mall in Kashima Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, a popular regional retail destination that now stands heavily damaged, with multiple people believed trapped in its collapsed sections. Aerial imagery captured by local news outlets shows severe structural compromise to the multi-story building, matching footage aired by Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK that reveals cracked roadways, damaged critical infrastructure including bridges, and multiple out-of-control building fires across the affected region.\n\nIn the immediate aftermath of the quake, Japanese authorities issued a brief tsunami alert for coastal areas of Kyushu, but the warning was canceled within an hour as no dangerous wave activity was recorded. Even so, more than 150,000 residents across affected prefectures have been ordered to evacuate their homes and relocate to designated emergency evacuation shelters as response teams continue to clear hazardous damaged areas.\n\nJapanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters Tuesday that disaster response teams are still working to map the full scale of human and property losses from the event. “We are still assessing the extent of injuries and property damage, but I have been informed that there have already been several injuries,” Takaichi said. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued an urgent warning for residents to remain alert, noting that strong aftershocks are highly likely in the coming days and weeks due to the quake’s shallow epicenter.\n\nJapan sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the world’s most geologically active seismic belt, making it one of the most earthquake-prone nations on the planet. The country records roughly 1,500 detectable seismic events each year, and has invested heavily in strict building codes and early warning systems to reduce casualties during major quakes.

  • Novel follows 5 lives changed forever by Iran Islamic revolution

    Novel follows 5 lives changed forever by Iran Islamic revolution

    Nominated for the 2026 International Booker Prize, Shida Bazyar’s *The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran* uses the 1979 Islamic Revolution not as a backdrop for grand historical drama, but as the quiet, unrelenting force that reshapes the fates of five ordinary family members across generations. Translated by Ruth Martin and published by Scribe, the multi-voiced, polyphonic narrative skips across decades between its four chapters, opening with a prologue that holds out hope for a free Iran in a not-too-distant future. Unlike many historical works centered on major political upheavals, this novel prioritizes the stories that official records often erase — stories that would disappear entirely without the framework of fiction.

    The story opens in the early aftermath of the revolution, following young communist teacher Behzad and his two political allies, Sohrab and Peyman, who all dream of building what they call the “real revolution” — a people-driven transformation of Iran’s core institutions that would deliver a prosperous, sovereign nation. But the divide between Peyman’s worldview and that of his comrades lays bare the roots of Iran’s repeated failed attempts at democratic reform.

    Peyman, an artist by instinct who always carries a camera, only turned to politics after the 1979 upheaval. Before that, he cared little for the ideological texts and flyers his friends championed. A pragmatic realist, he argues that the only foundations for a meaningful people’s revolution are basic needs: food, clean water, and accessible education. When the shah’s portraits are removed from classroom walls, he rejects the idea of hanging any individual’s image in their place. Behzad and Sohrab, by contrast, envision new portraits of Marx, Engels, Mao, and Lenin — ideological figures far removed from the daily lives and beliefs of most Iranians.

    Behzad, an atheist who approaches ideology with the fervor of a true believer, devotes himself to studying past revolutions and advocating for armed struggle. He dismisses the general Iranian population as uneducated and superstitious, claiming he and his comrades already understand the people — and that they themselves are the authentic voice of the people. He argues that violence is a necessary tool for political change, failing to recognize that violence committed in the name of “the people” is no different from violence committed in the name of God: both ultimately serve to prop up illegitimate power. It is only a decade later, living in exile in Germany, when Behzad learns that Peyman has been executed that he finally confronts the true human cost of the violence he once championed. Peyman’s death — of a man who understood rational truth but could not persuade others to follow him — becomes a haunting metaphor for the death of reason itself in a nation where ideological believers of all stripes treat violence as the only solution.

    As the story shifts to life in German exile, the narrative moves to Behzad’s wife Nahid, whom he married before the couple fled persecution. Plagued by a suffocating, constant loneliness as she struggles to adapt to what she calls the “cold language” of her new home, Nahid’s experience echoes the words of Polish poet Czesław Miłosz: “Language is the only homeland.” Her deep melancholy stems from the untranslatable nature of culture and identity — a rift that even her own daughter, Laleh, recognizes, once saying “I really don’t want to know what it feels like to be Mama.” Just as a poem can never retain all its nuance when moved to another language, migrants can never fully integrate into a new culture without losing a core part of themselves. Nahid reflects that a translated poem of the 14th-century Persian poet Hafez, exiled to a foreign tongue, mirrors her own exile: even if the words are there, the essence is lost. A once-educated and confident woman, she feels like a child again in Germany, unable to navigate the unspoken rules of her new society and even afraid she will pass on mistakes to her daughter while helping with homework.

    This intergenerational rift of identity and belonging deepens with Laleh’s perspective. In 1999, when a reformist Iranian president opened the country to limited travel, Laleh returns to Iran with Nahid. Though she is welcomed and cherished by her extended family, she feels like an outsider. Even in Germany, the only country she has ever truly known, she faces constant small reminders that she does not fully belong: a magazine seller questions whether she can read German; she worries others dismiss her father because of his grammatical mistakes; she fears strangers will recognize the family as foreigners and set fire to their car on a road trip. While she does not experience the crippling loneliness her mother endures, her identity is fractured between two worlds, with no single place that feels fully like home.

    As with any work of historical fiction, the novel carries small inconsistencies that readers familiar with Iranian culture and history will notice. For example, a passing claim that premarital sex carries the death penalty in Iran is inaccurate, as capital punishment for sexual offenses is only applied to adultery and rape. Another anecdote about a schoolgirl having her fingernails pulled out for wearing nail polish feels exaggerated outside the context of political imprisonment, and a small scene of a young man courting Laleh in a cafe lacks logical consistency. But these minor flaws do little to undermine the novel’s core power.

    Novelist Toni Morrison once wrote that official historical accounts erase the interior lives of ordinary people, and that fiction acts as a form of “literary archaeology” — a practice that can reconstruct lost pasts and revive the voices of those silenced by larger political forces. That is exactly what Bazyar achieves with her sharp, incisive prose in *The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran*. This book does not just tell a story of revolution and exile: it gives voice to the people history forgets.

  • Zelensky to press Trump on air defences while in Washington

    Zelensky to press Trump on air defences while in Washington

    As Volodymyr Zelenskyy touches down in Washington for high-stakes talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, the Ukrainian leader is prioritizing one urgent, long-sought goal: locking in firm commitments to strengthen Kyiv’s air and ballistic missile defense capabilities amid a sharp escalation of Russian long-range attacks.

    The visit comes at a pivotal moment in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with both sides ramping up cross-border drone and missile strikes. In overnight operations this week, Moscow reported that more than 390 Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian capital and surrounding regions between 8:30 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday local time. Russian air defense systems intercepted most of the unmanned aerial vehicles, but verified footage from BBC Confirm shows damage to a high-rise residential building in Chekhov, south of Moscow, and a large fire at a warehouse in the western Moscow suburb of Berezhki. Local authorities confirmed no fatalities or serious injuries from the strikes.

    Since Zelenskyy’s last conversation with Trump in early July, Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted Russian logistics infrastructure, including four warehouses belonging to major Russian e-commerce retailer Wildberries. The strikes have worsened operational disruptions for small and medium-sized businesses across multiple regions of Russia.

    Zelenskyy’s top ask at this week’s White House meeting is moving forward on a previously floated plan to grant Ukraine a license to domestically produce Patriot air defense interceptors. Russian forces have dramatically stepped up deadly ballistic missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, and Zelenskyy has repeatedly emphasized that Kyiv faces a critical shortage of interceptors to protect civilian infrastructure. While Patriot systems have topped Ukraine’s military assistance wishlist for years, global stockpiles of the U.S.-made interceptors have been depleted by ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East, leaving very limited supplies available for transfer.

    Turning a license agreement into full co-production of the advanced PAC-2 and PAC-3 Patriot variants on Ukrainian territory will require navigating a complex web of political, legal and technical hurdles, a process that could take many months to complete. Still, there are early signs of movement: a delegation from Raytheon, the U.S. defense manufacturer that produces Patriot systems, traveled to Kyiv last week, and Zelenskyy said the company has expressed readiness to deepen bilateral defense cooperation.

    The Washington visit is not limited to talks between Zelenskyy and Trump. Both Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in the U.S. capital to attend the funeral of longtime Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 71. After meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump will hold his first in-person meeting with Netanyahu since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran in late February.

    Tensions between the two conflict zones spilled over over the weekend, when Ukrainian forces struck an Iranian cargo vessel operating in the Caspian Sea. Kyiv has labeled Iran a direct accomplice to Russia’s invasion, claiming it has evidence that Russia has shared classified satellite intelligence with Tehran that has enabled Iranian attacks on U.S. military installations and Gulf Arab states. When asked about the allegation last week, Trump said he would question Russian President Vladimir Putin to verify the claim, but added that even if it proved true, it would not change U.S. policy at this time.

    On the Russian side, President Putin struck a defiant tone during remarks to the Russian State Duma on Monday, framing recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory as “terrorist methods” targeting civilians that would never break the spirit of the Russian people. “We will achieve our objectives and will together do everything for victory, for Russia,” Putin told lawmakers.

    The war took an unexpected diplomatic turn over the weekend, when Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a longstanding Russian ally, publicly questioned Moscow’s war aims. Tokayev said that the roots of the full-scale invasion remained “not understandable” to him, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to open the door for peace negotiations. He proposed revisiting the 2022 Istanbul negotiation framework, labeled “Istanbul formula 2.0,” as a starting point for talks. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the proposal on Monday, saying that a freeze in hostilities was impossible under current conditions “given Kyiv’s position.”

  • ‘Only job I wanted’, says new France coach Zidane

    ‘Only job I wanted’, says new France coach Zidane

    In a widely anticipated appointment that has dominated French football headlines for months, the French Football Federation (FFF) officially announced Tuesday that legendary former French midfielder Zinedine Zidane will take the reins as the new head coach of the men’s national team, signing a four-year contract that extends through the 2030 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

    The 54-year-old coaching icon, who has been tipped as the favorite for the role ever since former manager Didier Deschamps stepped down earlier this month following France’s fourth-place finish at the 2026 World Cup, has spent years patiently waiting for an opening to lead Les Bleus. Deschamps, who held the national team post since 2012, leaves behind a formidable legacy: he guided France to a World Cup title in 2018 and a runners-up finish at the 2022 tournament.

    Speaking at his official unveiling in Paris Tuesday, Zidane opened up about the overwhelming emotion of landing the only role he ever wanted in management after stepping away from Real Madrid in 2021. “For me, it’s an immense joy… being able to become the coach of this French team. I don’t have any other words,” he said. “I’m holding myself back because I have so many emotions inside me. I’m ready for the challenge, that’s what drives me today.”

    A decorated winner for France as a player, Zidane scored two iconic goals in the 1998 World Cup final against Brazil to secure France’s first-ever world title, and later lifted the UEFA European Championship trophy with the national side in 2000. He was also a teammate of Deschamps during that 1998 World Cup triumph, and becomes the third former 1998 champion to manage the national team, following Deschamps and Laurent Blanc, who held the role from 2010 to 2012.

    Notably, Zidane turned down every club coaching offer he received over the past four to five years to hold out for the France job. “The France job was the only one I wanted,” he confirmed, after meeting with fans outside FFF headquarters, signing autographs and posing for photos with waiting supporters. “I’ve had offers over these four or five years to take charge of a club and I turned them all down for the French national team.”

    Zidane’s entire club coaching career to date has been spent at Real Madrid, where he cemented his place in Champions League history by leading the Spanish giants to three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018 — a historic achievement that has never been matched in the modern era of the competition. While he acknowledges that leading a national team is a far different challenge than club management, he said the new test does not faze him. “I think it’s a completely different job, that’s for sure. I’ve experienced the club side of it. Now this is something new for me, but it doesn’t scare me,” he explained.

    Staying true to his own approach while building on the success of his predecessors is Zidane’s plan moving forward. “’DD’ (Deschamps) is ‘DD’, Blanc was Blanc and ‘Zizou’ is Zizou,” he said, referencing his well-known nickname. “I will do things the way I know how to do them.” His core priority remains clear: continuing France’s legacy as one of the world’s top international football sides. “I’m going to give everything so that this team keeps on winning. That’s it, the only thing that drives me is being able to work for this France team and making sure it keeps on winning.”

    FFF President Philippe Diallo revealed that talks with Zidane first began back in February 2025, shortly after Deschamps initially announced he would step down following the 2026 World Cup. Diallo said one line from their first conversation ultimately sealed the deal for Zidane’s appointment. “There was one thing that struck me, that perhaps ultimately made the difference. During the conversations we had, he said to me, ‘President, I know how to win.’ When he said that, I saw someone who had both the desire and the self-belief needed to lead France. That is what it takes for our national team to remain successful in the years ahead.”

    Zidane will make his debut on the France sidelines later this year, with his first match in charge an away UEFA Nations League fixture against Turkey on September 25. His first home game at the iconic Stade de France will follow a week later on October 2, when France hosts Italy.

  • NATO member Romania shoots down stray drones from Ukraine war after years of incursions

    NATO member Romania shoots down stray drones from Ukraine war after years of incursions

    For nearly two and a half years, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a persistent, dangerous headache for one of its closest neighbors: Romania, an Eastern European member of both the European Union and NATO. Repeated incursions by stray drones originating from cross-border attacks on Ukraine have violated Romanian sovereignty, damaged property, and even injured civilians, forcing a long-controversial policy shift: Bucharest has formally approved shooting down unauthorized drones entering its airspace, and has already made good on this new strategy.

    Starting last Friday, Romanian pilots flying F-16 fighter jets intercepted and shot down three unidentified drones in three consecutive days, as Russia ramped up missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure near the shared border. After military forensics confirmed the downed aircraft were of Russian origin, Romanian officials took swift diplomatic action: on Monday, they summoned Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest to deliver a formal protest, and ordered one Russian diplomatic staff member expelled from the country, giving the individual five days to depart.

    This marks a sharp break from Romania’s previous approach to drone incursions. For years after the full invasion began in February 2022, Romanian authorities responded to intrusions by scrambling jet fighters to intercept aircraft, collecting downed debris and fragments, constructing emergency fallout shelters along the border, and issuing repeated diplomatic reprimands to Moscow. Late last year, following a wave of incursions across NATO’s eastern flank, Romania and neighboring Poland jointly acquired the MEROPS counter-drone system, a short-range defensive tool designed to disable or destroy incoming stray unmanned aircraft. Even after passing legislation authorizing the military to shoot down incursive drones last year – a move that faced fierce opposition from nationalist domestic political parties – Bucharest held off on implementing the policy until recently.

    Drones and drone fragments have crossed into the territory of multiple European Union nations since the war began, but the issue has been uniquely persistent for Romania. Official data from Romania’s Ministry of National Defense shows that at least 19 drones have violated Romanian airspace in 2024 alone, and a total of 50 confirmed incidents of drones or drone debris ending up on Romanian territory have been recorded since the war launched in February 2022. The most high-profile prior incident came in May 2024, when a stray drone crashed into an apartment block in the eastern Danube River port town of Galati, leaving a mother and her child injured.

    Military analysts say that Galati incident acted as a critical psychological turning point for Romanian authorities. Speaking to reporters, Romanian military analyst Radu Tudor explained that the civilian injuries changed the government’s long-standing approach, adding, “This was somehow a kind of psychological trigger, in order to say: ‘OK, enough is enough.’” Tudor also noted that the policy shift likely reflects a broader change across NATO, rather than just a unilateral Romanian decision. “Until now, it probably was an Allied decision in NATO not to respond with firepower, because it was somehow a danger of escalation,” he said. “I think it’s not only a change of attitude of Romania, I think it’s a change of attitude in NATO.”

    This is not the first time Romanian forces have shot down a stray drone in the region. Back in May, Romanian pilots, who rotate through deployments in Lithuania as part of NATO’s collective eastern flank defense capabilities, shot down a stray Ukrainian drone over Estonian airspace. That interception provided critical tactical experience that the Romanian military used to refine its procedures for downing incursive drones. “We recorded more than 100 attacks with drones near our border with Ukraine, and many of them resulted in debris or even drones that penetrated our airspace,” Cristian Popovici, head of public relations for the Romanian defense ministry and a former air defense officer, told the Associated Press. “Our pilots and our air force, we developed the tactics, procedures, and now we can face and we can eliminate this threat.” Popovici added that after the Estonian interception, the military applied the lessons learned, resulting in a 100 percent success rate for the three intercepts carried out last week.

    Romanian President Nicusor Dan publicly praised the pilots following the interceptions, and firmly placed blame for the incursions on Moscow. “It is unacceptable and intolerable for the Russian Federation to continue violating Romanian airspace,” Dan said. To date, Romania has become the only NATO member on the eastern flank to shoot down four incursive drones: three on its own territory and one over Estonia. The tough stance from Bucharest aligns with a recent message from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte during the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Turkey earlier this month: “Don’t play with us.”

    Moscow has rejected all accusations of responsibility for the incursions. In a statement posted to its official Facebook page, the Russian embassy in Bucharest denied the claims, saying Russia “has never directed and does not direct combat drones” to Romanian territory, and called the allegations “completely unfounded.” The embassy also warned that the unprovoked expulsion of a Russian diplomatic staff member “will not go unanswered.”

    Despite its new hardline approach to stopping incursions, Romanian officials have emphasized that the country has no intention of being drawn directly into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. “We are in a peacetime, we are not involved in this fight,” Popovici said. “If Russia wants to escalate with NATO, it’s up to them. I’m not sure it’s a wise move now.”