Global Pulse

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  • India’s ‘cockroach’ protest called off after education minister quits

    India’s ‘cockroach’ protest called off after education minister quits

    In a landmark victory for grassroots youth dissent in India, embattled Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has stepped down from his post, prompting jubilant celebrations among protesters and leading the movement that forced his ouster to end its five-week campaign. The unexpected outcome marks one of the most significant blows to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling administration in recent years, born from a viral satirical movement that evolved from an online joke into a powerful vehicle for widespread public discontent.

    The movement behind the protest, known as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), is not a registered political party. It traces its origins to a controversial comment from India’s Chief Justice, who labeled unemployed young people entering activism and independent journalism as “cockroaches.” Though the justice later clarified he was only referring to individuals holding fake academic credentials, the term was reclaimed by young activists, who transformed the once-insulting label into a symbol of resilience and defiance against systemic failure. Led by 30-year-old political communications strategist and former Boston University student Abhijeet Dipke, the movement quickly amassed a massive online following, now boasting 26 million followers on Instagram, and channeled widespread youth anxiety over broken education systems, high unemployment, and repeated exam paper leak scandals into tangible street action.

    The CJP’s core demands centered on comprehensive education reform, accountability for recurring exam paper leaks, and Pradhan’s resignation. The protest gained global momentum when prominent Indian activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk joined the movement on June 28 and launched an indefinite hunger strike to back the group’s demands. As Wangchuk’s health declined, police forcibly removed him from the main protest site at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar last Saturday and transferred him to a hospital, where he continued his fast. He only ended his strike early Friday after receiving official assurances from the government that his demands would be reviewed.

    Tensions escalated dramatically this week, when a peaceful march by protesters to India’s Parliament was met with a violent police crackdown that left dozens injured, hundreds hospitalized, and around 70 protesters arrested (most of whom have since been released on bail). Images and footage of the crackdown spread rapidly across social media, amplifying public anger and putting unprecedented pressure on Modi’s administration. For nearly five weeks, the government had ignored the protest, but the fallout from the police violence forced a rapid shift in strategy: on Thursday, Modi broke his silence, announcing plans to establish fast-track courts for anyone involved in exam paper leaks, and releasing a video message stating that a strict new law targeting paper leaks was already in draft form and would soon be introduced to parliament. The announcement failed to defuse tension, with social media flooded with memes and mocking posts turning the prime minister’s attempt to quell anger into viral jokes.

    Hours before the CJP called off its protest, Pradhan announced his resignation in a Hindi-language post on the social platform X. In his statement, Pradhan wrote that he “respected the aspirations, dreams, and expectations of the youth” and was “pained by the events” of the preceding days. He framed his resignation as a step to “prevent anti-national forces from exploiting” the unrest, preserve national unity, and ensure that no Indian student’s future becomes “entangled in legal complexities,” allowing young people to return to their studies and career building.

    As news of the resignation broke, celebrations erupted immediately at Jantar Mantar. From the protest’s makeshift stage, an emotional Dipke shouted to the crowd, “We have done it,” sparking deafening cheers. Protesters sang, danced, chanted slogans, and distributed sweets to mark the win. Even after CJP leadership announced the end of the protest and left the site hours later, thousands of jubilant supporters remained gathered at the venue deep into the night. Many told reporters they had waited weeks for the outcome and were not ready to leave without full celebration. Large numbers of police were deployed around the protest site, but officers confirmed they would only intervene if laws were broken.

    Dipke called Pradhan’s resignation a clear win for democracy, but emphasized that the movement’s work is far from finished. In a post-resignation statement on X, he said the CJP would continue advocating for compensation for the families of students who died by suicide after a key medical exam was canceled over leak concerns. He also renewed calls for accountability against police officers accused of using excessive force during the July 20 crackdown on the parliamentary march, ending his statement with a defiant warning: “Remember, do not mess with [the] cockroach.”

    Political analysts note that while the protest only explicitly demanded Pradhan’s resignation, it has already dealt a severe blow to Modi’s political brand and his long-held aura of invincibility. Since taking power in 2014, Modi’s government has rarely tolerated public dissent and has typically cracked down heavily on large-scale protests, making this climbdown all the more notable. This is not the first time the administration has backed down in the face of widespread public action: in 2021, the government repealed controversial agricultural laws after a year-long mass protest by Indian farmers.

    The youth-led movement has resonated across broad swathes of India’s middle class, cutting across divisions of religion, caste, and industry to unify people around shared anger over limited educational opportunities and stagnant job growth. Many protesters who spoke to reporters revealed they had once supported Modi but had since abandoned the prime minister, accusing his government of dividing communities along religious lines instead of addressing pressing economic and social issues. On Saturday, opposition leaders across India welcomed Pradhan’s resignation, widely framing it as a victory for India’s young people and grassroots democratic action.

  • More than 250,000 flee wildfires in France and Spain

    More than 250,000 flee wildfires in France and Spain

    Across Southern and Western Europe, a devastating outbreak of unseasonably early and widespread wildfires is overwhelming firefighting resources, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and leaving emergency responders scrambling to contain blazes fueled by record heat and unpredictable gusty winds. The crisis has already spread from France and Spain to Italy and the United Kingdom, with regional and EU officials warning that 2026 is on track to become the worst year for European wildfire damage on record.

    In southwestern France, the situation remains particularly critical, with strong winds pushing large active flames within 40 to 50 kilometers of the major city of Bordeaux. As of Saturday morning, smoke carried by prevailing winds had already reached Bordeaux, leaving a sharp acrid odor hanging over the city, even as the main blaze remained outside the urban center. One senior French official confirmed that response teams are still far from gaining full control of the fastest-spreading blazes in the Gironde and Landes regions.

    To date, approximately 200,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated from high-risk areas across southwestern France, with emergency orders issued overnight for seven small communities located west of Bordeaux. Temporary emergency shelters have been constructed across the region to house displaced people, while the French government has mobilized military personnel to support overstretched local firefighters, clearing underbrush and constructing strategic fire breaks to slow the advance of flames. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that a total of 98,000 hectares of land have already burned across the country since the start of 2026, and President Emmanuel Macron has called an emergency cabinet meeting to coordinate the national response amid an unprecedented outbreak of roughly 30 active fires across the nation.

    The crisis has also disrupted major public events: organizers of the Tour de France confirmed they have shortened the race’s final Sunday leg from 133 kilometers to 89 kilometers, allowing security forces that were assigned to the route to be redeployed to wildfire-affected zones.

    Many evacuees, including a large number of international tourists staying in popular coastal and regional vacation spots, have described terrifying experiences fleeing the advancing flames. Spencer Randall, a British tourist who evacuated with his family in the early hours of Saturday to a town 100 miles east of Bordeaux, told reporters his group can still smell smoke from the wildfires at their safe location. “It’s quite strong winds fanning the flames, just terrifying,” he said. Another British vacationing couple in the Bordeaux area reported that ash from the fires has coated their rental property’s swimming pool and turned their shoes black during outdoor walks, with smoke that irritates lungs almost immediately after stepping outside. Local residents described the unfolding disaster as deeply stressful, with one calling the widespread destruction a “total disaster.”

    To the south, Spain is facing its own unprecedented wildfire crisis, with a national state of emergency declared. One fatality has already been confirmed: a man in his 70s was found dead in his car by responding firefighters working to extinguish a blaze in the Salt de l’Aigua ravine in Manises, in the València region, according to local media reports.

    So far in 2026, more than 130,000 hectares of land have burned across Spain, which exceeds the 10-year annual average of 100,000 hectares for the country. Nearly 60,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas in the Madrid and Ávila regions, with more than 28,000 remaining confined to their homes to avoid exposure to smoke and fire hazards. Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso called the current outbreak the “worst fire in the history of the region.”

    While shifting weather conditions, including lower temperatures, higher humidity and reduced wind speeds, have created a small window of opportunity for firefighters to gain ground on blazes outside Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned that major challenges remain. “It’s true that temperatures have dropped a little bit. But still the wind is making it difficult and there may be thunderstorms as well,” Sánchez told reporters from Cenicientos, south-west of Madrid, adding that the country still faces “complex times ahead.”

    The wildfire crisis is not limited to France and Spain. On the Italian island of Sicily, civil protection officials confirmed that more than 350 separate fires, including 10 large major blazes, have broken out, prompting multiple evacuation orders. In Scotland, emergency services declared a major incident on Friday evening to respond to a large wildfire that has been burning uncontrolled for 10 days in the Cairngorms National Park.

    EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib warned that the current season is on track to break last year’s grim record of 1 million hectares of burned land across Europe. “We are expecting to face another historical, sad record because the season has started earlier in the year,” Lahbib told the BBC, adding that forecasters predict another upcoming heatwave that could trigger additional new outbreaks across the continent.

    To support overwhelmed national response efforts, the EU has activated its civil protection mechanism, with cross-border reinforcements deployed to the hardest-hit countries. France is receiving three Canadair water bombers from Croatia, two Air Tractor water aircraft from Portugal, Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and a 40-person forest firefighting team from Romania. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen added that 11 additional aircraft and helicopters from the EU’s shared firefighting fleet have also been deployed to both France and Spain to boost response capacity.

  • Intern arrested in Belgium on suspicion of spying inside NATO military headquarters

    Intern arrested in Belgium on suspicion of spying inside NATO military headquarters

    Belgian law enforcement authorities announced on Saturday that a Canadian woman has been taken into custody on espionage allegations following her detention at NATO’s top military operational command facility. The investigation was initiated after NATO’s internal security division provided a critical tip that triggered the full probe by Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office. According to official statements, law enforcement teams first carried out coordinated raids at both the suspect’s private residence and her workplace inside the NATO command site on Thursday, before taking the Canadian citizen of Chinese heritage into official custody on Friday. Prosecutors have formally outlined two core accusations against the suspect: that she conducted intelligence gathering activities on behalf of an outside third nation, and that she is affiliated with a transnational criminal organization structured to support this espionage work. Both Belgium and Canada hold full membership in the 32-nation NATO military alliance, which formally designated China as a systemic “security challenge” in its 2021 strategic framework, alongside active security threats stemming from Russia and regional instability in the Middle East. The NATO facility where the intern was working, officially named Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), is situated in the southern Belgian city of Mons, close to the country’s border with France. This site differs from NATO’s political headquarters based in Brussels, which hosts member state ambassadors for high-level discussions on critical defense issues ranging from collective defense spending to unauthorized drone incursions and cross-border cyber threats. In contrast, SHAPE serves as the primary military planning and command center for the alliance, where senior military officers develop joint operational strategy, coordinate tactical deployments, and oversee all NATO military operations across the globe. As of Saturday’s public announcement, Belgian prosecutors have not released additional details about the specific scope of the alleged espionage activities, nor have they named the third country that the suspect is accused of working for. No court hearing dates have been made public at this early stage of the investigation, and representatives from NATO and Canadian officials have not yet issued additional formal comments on the ongoing case.

  • Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian village near Nablus

    Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian village near Nablus

    On a violent Friday in the occupied West Bank, hundreds of Israeli settlers carried out a coordinated assault on the Palestinian village of Sarra, located southwest of the city of Nablus, leaving homes burned, property destroyed, residents injured, and multiple families displaced to seek safety. This attack is the latest in a growing string of settler violence targeting Palestinian communities across the Nablus region that followed a deadly incident in the nearby town of Tel earlier the same day.

    Local residents and village officials shared harrowing firsthand accounts of the assault with independent news outlet Middle East Eye, detailing the scale and brutality of the attack. Mohammed Turabi, a Sarra resident whose home was directly targeted, said settlers hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at his property, setting ablaze his courtyard, ground floor, and parked vehicle. Miraculously, Turabi and his entire family escaped without physical injury, but the attack left them deeply traumatized. Critically, Turabi confirmed that Israeli military personnel were positioned nearby throughout the violence and made no effort to intervene to stop the attackers or protect Palestinian civilians.

    Ahmad Sarrawi, a member of the Sarra municipal council, described the assault as fully organized and premeditated. He explained that in the weeks leading up to the attack, settlers had been constructing informal dirt roads through village lands to create easy access to Palestinian residential areas on Sarra’s outskirts. According to Sarrawi, the attackers originated from the nearby unauthorised Havat Gilad outpost, and they moved rapidly to target outlying homes, setting fire to multiple structures and vehicles within minutes. Local villagers ultimately organized a collective confrontation to push the settlers out of the community and halt additional destruction.

    Elderly resident Umm Wahid shared a devastating account of the terror the attack inflicted on her family. She explained that she already forces all her children to sleep together at her daughter’s home each night out of constant fear of settler aggression. On the day of the attack, she witnessed Israeli bulldozers uprooting olive trees—an economic and cultural lifeline for many Palestinian farming communities—near the property before hundreds of settlers poured into the village from surrounding valleys. Fearing for the safety of her family, she fled the home immediately; moments after they left, settlers set the structure on fire before moving on to other homes, smashing windows and damaging additional vehicles. One of Wahid’s grandchildren lost consciousness after inhaling thick toxic smoke from the fires, leaving all the children in the family severely traumatized.

    Naaman Abdullah, mayor of Sarra, contextualized the attack within the long-standing structural restrictions that shape life for the village’s residents. He noted that the entire western section of Sarra falls within Area C, a designation under the 1990s Oslo Accords that grants Israel full military and civilian control over the territory, leaving Palestinian residents with no legal protection for their land or homes. Abdullah added that following the killing of four Palestinians in the village of Tel earlier that Friday, settlers fanned out across neighbouring villages to launch retaliatory attacks, eventually reaching Sarra to bulldoze land, uproot trees, and burn residential property. He emphasized that repeated settler violence, paired with constant Israeli military restrictions, has made daily life almost unlivable for Sarra’s residents: main roads are routinely blocked by military checkpoints and gates, forcing residents to travel along dangerous unpaved paths to reach their homes and basic services.

    This attack comes amid a documented surge in settler violence across the occupied West Bank, paired with growing incitement to violence against Palestinians by extremist settler groups shared widely on social media platforms. Palestinian leaders and international human rights organisations have repeatedly warned that this ongoing incitement fuels further bloodshed and creates a culture of impunity that allows attacks on Palestinian civilians and their property to continue without consequence. Palestinian authorities have issued repeated calls for the international community to deploy formal protection for Palestinian civilians living under occupation and to hold perpetrators of settler violence accountable.

    The Palestinian Presidency, national government, and the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements issued a formal condemnation of the Sarra attack and other recent settler assaults, framing the violence as a deliberate state-backed policy meant to intimidate Palestinian residents and force them to permanently abandon their ancestral land. The statement renewed calls for urgent international intervention to end the widespread impunity that enables repeated settler attacks and to hold all responsible parties accountable under international law.

  • Crisis-hit Flavio Bolsonaro launches presidential candidacy in Brazil

    Crisis-hit Flavio Bolsonaro launches presidential candidacy in Brazil

    Brazil’s right-wing political landscape is bracing for a major showdown this October, as scandal-plagued senator Flavio Bolsonaro, eldest son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, formally launched his bid for the nation’s highest office on Saturday. The launch, hosted at a Sao Paulo convention by the ruling Liberal Party (PL), comes as the 45-year-old candidate attempts to unseat incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking an unprecedented fourth term at age 80.

    The elder Bolsonaro, a far-right firebrand who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for orchestrating a coup attempt following his narrow 2022 election loss to Lula, personally tapped Flavio as his political heir. The convention venue, a warehouse adjacent to Sao Paulo’s iconic Pacaembu Stadium, was packed with enthusiastic supporters clad in Brazilian national team jerseys—now a widely recognized symbol of the Bolsonaro movement—who drummed and waved national flags in a display of grassroots enthusiasm. “We would have liked our candidate to be Jair Bolsonaro, but today Flavio is the best choice,” Fernando Moeno, a 50-year-old retired military police officer in attendance, told Agence France-Presse.

    Flavio has centered his campaign on a promise of sweeping national change, framing his platform as a mission to “free” Brazil from pervasive violent crime, persistent inflation, crippling high taxes, and what he casts as the failed governance of Lula. “We are on a plane without a pilot,” he claimed at a recent campaign event, criticizing the incumbent administration’s leadership.

    However, Flavio’s campaign has been derailed in recent weeks by a cascade of damaging scandals that have eroded his polling numbers. Until the wave of controversies broke, the senator was locked in a neck-and-neck race with Lula. The first scandal emerged in May, when a leaked audio recording caught Flavio requesting that disgraced banker Daniel Vorcaro—who is currently facing charges in connection with a multi-million dollar fraud scheme—finance a biographical film about his father. Flavio had previously publicly denied any contact with Vorcaro, telling reporters hours before the leak that the allegation was “a lie.” He now claims his interactions with the banker were limited exclusively to the film project. On Thursday, a Supreme Court justice ordered a formal investigation into the film’s financing, deepening the cloud over the campaign.

    A second, equally damaging crisis erupted just days before the convention, when Flavio’s stepmother Michelle Bolsonaro, the popular former first lady and a key asset to the right-wing movement among female and evangelical voters, published an Instagram video accusing Flavio of disrespect and mistreatment, claiming he had dismissed her by saying she “didn’t understand anything about politics.” As internal party divisions worsened, Flavio released a public letter on social media purportedly from his imprisoned father calling for party unity—a move that violated the terms of Jair Bolsonaro’s house arrest. In response, a Supreme Court justice blocked Flavio from visiting his father until after the first round of October voting. In a last-minute bid to heal the rift ahead of the convention, Flavio published a video public apology to Michelle, who quickly accepted the gesture.

    ideologically, Flavio has positioned himself as a more moderate alternative to his father’s unapologetic far-right rhetoric, but he retains hardline stances on crime and this repetition repeated his father’s debunked claims about vulnerabilities in Brazil’s electronic voting system, echoing the 2022 election misinformation that preceded the coup attempt. He has also struggled to build necessary alliances with Brazil’s powerful centrist political bloc, with multiple key centrist parties announcing they will remain neutral in the October 4 vote.

    Compounding Flavio’s troubles is the recent backlash over trade policy, after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, a close ideological ally of the Bolsonaro family, imposed two new rounds of tariffs on Brazilian exports this month. The Bolsonaro family publicly supported the earlier tariffs, which were framed as retaliation for Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction and sentencing. In response, Lula has publicly accused the entire Bolsonaro family of committing treason against Brazilian economic interests.

    The latest polling data, published Friday by leading Brazilian pollster Datafolha, shows Lula holding a narrow lead in a projected runoff matchup: the incumbent would capture 48% of the vote, compared to Flavio’s 43%, a shift that follows the recent string of scandals hitting the right-wing candidate.

  • Ukraine strikes Siberia refinery as Kazakh leader tells Putin war should end

    Ukraine strikes Siberia refinery as Kazakh leader tells Putin war should end

    Nearly four and a half years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a dramatic escalation of cross-border attacks and a rare public rebuke from a key ally have shifted the trajectory of the conflict in a single 24-hour period. On Saturday, Ukrainian drones reached deep into Russian territory, striking an oil refinery in Western Siberia, disrupting a national athletics competition in the Ural Mountains, and triggering fresh civilian casualties on both sides of the front line, as Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev openly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war during a bilateral summit in Siberia’s Omsk.

    The wave of strikes marked one of the farthest advances of Ukrainian aerial attacks into Russian territory since the war began. Tyumen region governor Alexander Moor confirmed that a local oil refinery caught fire after the drone attack, while in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s national athletics federation called an abrupt halt to an ongoing all-Russian competition over repeated drone threats. Leading Russian online retailer Wildberries, which has been the target of sustained Ukrainian drone attacks for a week, also evacuated staff from its Yekaterinburg facility amid the alerts, though no damage was reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later claimed responsibility for the Siberian refinery strike, adding that Ukrainian forces had also hit a military factory in Kirov region for the second consecutive day. Local Russian authorities reported five people were killed in the Kirov strike on Friday.

    The deep strikes have already had widespread ripple effects across Russia. Moscow announced Saturday that it would extend its temporary ban on fuel exports through the end of 2025, a direct response to widespread fuel shortages triggered by repeated Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure. Long queues have formed at petrol stations across multiple Russian regions, marking the most severe disruption to civilian life inside Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. Ukraine has repeatedly stated that its cross-border strikes are a deliberate strategy to weaken Russia’s war economy and force the Kremlin to enter good-faith peace negotiations.

    Civilian casualties continued to mount across the conflict zone Saturday. Russian-installed occupation authorities in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region claimed a Ukrainian strike on a seaside tourist camp in the Azov Sea town of Kyrylivka killed 12 people, including four children, with eight more still missing and rescue operations ongoing. Another civilian death was reported in occupied Kherson region, and two more were killed in Russian border villages near the front line. Kyiv has not yet issued an official comment on the Kyrylivka strike. For its part, Ukraine reported five civilian deaths from Russian attacks across the country: three killed in a double-tap strike on a private courier facility in the northeastern town of Sumy, with two more fatalities recorded in the eastern and southern parts of the country.

    The United Nations has recently warned that civilian casualty rates have climbed sharply in recent weeks, as the conflict intensifies after nearly four and a half years of fighting. Against this backdrop of escalating violence, Tokayev’s public call for peace marked a rare break for Putin, who rarely faces public calls to end the war from leaders of allied states. “It is a shame, young people are dying… All this has to be stopped,” Tokayev said in televised remarks made while sitting beside Putin during the Omsk summit. The Kazakh leader proposed freezing the conflict along existing lines, restarting the 2022 Istanbul peace talks, and working toward a long-term ceasefire. He added that the roots of the conflict remain “not understandable” to him, and has never publicly endorsed Russia’s full-scale invasion, despite maintaining close strategic and economic ties with Moscow.

    Putin offered only a vague response, saying he would share further details of the conflict with Tokayev, and has repeatedly reaffirmed Russia’s goal to seize the entirety of eastern Ukraine by force. US-led international negotiations to end the conflict, which is Europe’s largest military confrontation since World War II, remain stalled, with neither side showing willingness to make significant territorial concessions to restart talks.

  • Pogacar closes in on record-equaling fifth Tour de France title as Carapaz wins penultimate stage

    Pogacar closes in on record-equaling fifth Tour de France title as Carapaz wins penultimate stage

    ALPE D’HUEZ, France — Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar is one step away from etching his name into Tour de France history, finishing safely through the grueling penultimate 20th stage on Saturday to hold a commanding lead heading into Sunday’s iconic final finish in Paris.

    Pogacar, who entered the alpine stage with a steady advantage over the field, carries a 6-and-a-half-minute lead over Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel into the final showcase day of racing. Barring an unforeseen disaster, he will become only the fifth rider in the 110-plus year history of the race to claim five overall Tour titles, joining cycling legends Eddy Merckx of Belgium, Spain’s Miguel Indurain, and French greats Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

    The 20th stage proved one of the race’s most punishing tests: a 171-kilometer alpine journey featuring three of cycling’s hardest-rated hors catégorie climbs plus an additional category 1 ascent, with a total of 66 kilometers of climbing before the finish in Alpe d’Huez. Riders, already worn down from three weeks of continuous racing, conquered the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier, and Col de Sarenne before the hilly run-in to the line.

    It was Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz who claimed the stage victory, his second stage win of this year’s Tour and third of his career. Carapaz outpaced American rider Sepp Kuss in the final kilometers, after Kuss nearly crashed out on a downhill turn with just five kilometers remaining. Evenepoel also surged past Kuss in the final sprint to take second place on the stage.

    Carapaz, who fought from the breakaway to lock up the polka-dot jersey for the race’s best climber, called the win a surreal achievement. “There was a moment when I couldn’t believe what was happening,” he said after the finish. “This Tour de France has been incredible, with all the spectators and all the support I’ve received from Ecuador, where they’ll be jumping for joy.” He added that Kuss proved an extremely tough competitor: “It was really, really tough. Sepp, in particular, was a very tough nut to crack.”

    Kuss’ near-disaster came when he mistimed a downhill turn, lost control of his bike, and nearly careened over a roadside concrete barrier, only saved by protective netting that cushioned his fall. Carapaz capitalized on the mistake to push ahead for the win, saying he felt the result was earned after a grueling three weeks of racing. “It was absolutely brilliant to win here and in a distinctive jersey,” Carapaz said. “I think I deserve it, because I’ve fought so hard in this Tour de France.”

    For Pogacar, the day was focused on protecting his overall lead rather than chasing another stage victory, unlike his aggressive attack on Friday’s 19th stage. His top priority was securing third place in the overall rankings for his UAE Team Emirates teammate Isaac Del Toro, a young Mexican rider who now holds a lead of more than two minutes over France’s Paul Seixas, who sits in fourth. Pogacar, who gifted Del Toro a stage victory on Stage 2 of this year’s race, said prioritizing his teammate was a privilege. “It’s been an honor to ride for Isaac today,” he said. “Crossing the finish line together with him has been memorable.”

    Pogacar has already claimed five stage wins in this year’s Tour, bringing his all-time Tour stage victory total to 26. To beat British sprint legend Mark Cavendish’s record of 35 career stage wins, Pogacar would need to compete in at least two more editions of the race, with Eddy Merckx holding 34 and Bernard Hinault 28. When asked if he would chase another stage win on Sunday, Pogacar said he would avoid unnecessary risks but would seize an opportunity if it arises. “Let’s see how I feel tomorrow. I won’t take any risks,” he said. “But if I have good legs and I don’t have to take too many big risks, I’ll try to claim victory tomorrow.”

    Reflecting on his run so far, Pogacar said he has turned in a strong performance, with top rival Jonas Vingegaard forced to exit the race early after a crash. “I have done a really good Tour. Some of our competitors had bad luck,” he said. “We made it through with the team and now there is just one last show left.”

    Sunday’s final stage has been modified to support emergency response efforts for ongoing wildfires in southwestern France. Originally a 133-kilometer route starting in Thoiry west of Paris, the final day has been shortened to 89 kilometers and relocated to start within Paris itself, to reduce strain on emergency and security services that have been redeployed to support wildfire response. Security forces originally assigned to the Tour’s final stage have been moved to the affected wildfire regions. “The prefect of police and the director of the Tour de France commend the dedication of all those involved in fighting the wildfires and express their full solidarity with the affected communities,” the Tour organization said in an official statement. This is not the first modified stage of this year’s race: Stage 9 was also shortened amid an extreme heatwave.

    Following the men’s race conclusion, the 9-stage Tour de France Femmes will kick off on August 1 in Lausanne, Switzerland, concluding in Nice on August 9. Last year, French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt claimed victory on her debut in the race.

  • Ishan Kishan sets up 90-run win over Zimbabwe as India takes 2-0 lead in T20 series

    Ishan Kishan sets up 90-run win over Zimbabwe as India takes 2-0 lead in T20 series

    In a high-octane second Twenty20 international played in Harare on Saturday, India delivered a dominant all-round performance to crush hosts Zimbabwe by 90 runs, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match bilateral series.

    Zimbabwe won the coin toss and made the decision to put India in to bat first, a call that quickly looked promising as the hosts claimed early wickets to put the visiting batting line-up under pressure. Fifteen-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gave India a blistering start in the powerplay, cracking three fours and one six to set an early aggressive tone, but India suffered an early setback when opener Abhishek Sharma fell to seamer Blessing Muzarabani for the second consecutive match. Muzarabani was involved again shortly after, holding a catch to dismiss Sooryavanshi off Richard Ngarava’s bowling, leaving India reeling at 29 runs for the loss of two wickets.

    The game’s turning point came when Ishan Kishan joined Indian captain Shreyas Iyer in the middle. The pair built a 66-run third-wicket partnership from just 42 deliveries, with Iyer contributing 25 runs before being caught at backward point off Brian Bennett’s bowling. That brought Kishan together with rising young batsman Tilak Varma, and the two batters launched a devastating attacking assault on Zimbabwe’s bowling attack that shifted the match completely in India’s favor. The pair added 94 runs from only 43 balls for the fourth wicket, with Kishan notching his 13th T20 half-century off just 31 deliveries, while Varma raced to his own half-century from only 23 balls, powered by three sixes.

    Kishan eventually fell in the 18th over after finishing with a sensational knock of 81 runs from 44 balls, decorated by nine fours and two sixes. Varma remained unbeaten on 60 runs from 29 balls, guiding India to a formidable total of 219 runs for five wickets at the end of their 20 overs.

    Chasing a daunting 220-run target, Zimbabwe’s batting line-up never managed to gain momentum against a tight Indian bowling attack. The hosts were bowled out for just 129 runs in 17.5 overs, with only Bennett offering any real resistance with a quick-fire 32 runs from 19 balls that included three fours and three sixes. On debut, seamer Yash Thakur claimed two wickets for 30 runs, while Abhishek Sharma turned in a match-winning bowling performance of three wickets for 17 runs. Young spinner Prince Yadav picked up two wickets for 10 runs in just 1.2 overs before being forced to leave the field with a hamstring injury.

    The win follows India’s seven-wicket victory in the opening T20 on Thursday, leaving the side on the brink of a clean sweep. The third and final match of the series will be contested at the same Harare venue on Sunday.

  • Pogacar set to win Tour de France, Carapaz claims Queen stage

    Pogacar set to win Tour de France, Carapaz claims Queen stage

    The 113th edition of the Tour de France is just one stage away from crowning one of cycling’s youngest legends, as Tadej Pogacar all but secured a record-equaling fifth overall title following Saturday’s grueling 20th stage on the iconic Alpe d’Huez.

    With Sunday’s final stage consisting of the traditional ceremonial procession through the streets of Paris, the 25-year-old Slovenian only needs to cross the finish line to claim his fifth Tour de France crown in just seven years of competition. This achievement will place him alongside cycling’s all-time greats Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the only five-time winners of the sport’s most prestigious race — and he will become the youngest rider ever to reach this historic milestone.

    In a display of good sportsmanship and team confidence, Pogacar crossed Saturday’s finish line in fourth place, arm-in-arm with his UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro. Del Toro’s strong performance throughout the stage locked in his third place overall classification and secured him the white jersey for the best young rider, edging out exciting 19-year-old French prospect Paul Seixas. Pogacar even allowed second-place overall contender Remco Evenepoel, the Olympic champion who finished second on the stage ahead of American rider Sepp Kuss, to close the gap in the general classification by roughly 40 seconds. Going into Sunday’s finale, Pogacar holds a commanding 6-minute 26-second lead over Evenepoel, with 22-year-old Del Toro sitting another three minutes 16 seconds back in third place.

    The day belonged to Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, who claimed victory on the 170.9-kilometer Queen stage, a brutal route featuring four massive mountain climbs. The win marked Carapaz’s second stage victory in three days, and it also earned him the polkadot jersey for the Tour’s King of the Mountains, pushing him to eighth place in the final overall rankings. “It was great to win here with a commemorative jersey,” Carapaz said after the finish. “In the end, it’s been a dream Tour.”

    The stage’s dramatic final kilometers brought heartbreak for Kuss, who had built a 15 to 20-second lead over Carapaz before suffering two crashes in the final 7 kilometers. On the second crash, safety netting along a tight cliff-side bend saved Kuss from a potentially catastrophic fall into a ravine. Though Kuss fought hard to finish, he was ultimately overtaken by Evenepoel as Carapaz crossed the line first, ending his hopes of a stage win and taking the King of the Mountains title. The outcome was an additional disappointment for Kuss’s Visma-Lease a Bike team, which lost defending champion and team leader Jonas Vingegaard to a crash just one week prior.

    Carapaz started the day in a breakaway group of five riders, launching an aggressive attack to collect the mountain classification points he needed to secure the polkadot jersey. He claimed maximum points on three of the route’s major climbs: Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier, whittling the breakaway down to a head-to-head battle with Kuss. Kuss pushed ahead to cross the Col de Sarenne, the final categorized climb 15 kilometers from the finish, around 10 seconds ahead of Carapaz, but his misfortune on the downhill section derailed his bid for victory.

    Behind the leading pair, 19-year-old Seixas launched a late attempt to overtake Del Toro for the white jersey, but he lacked the energy to close the gap. When Del Toro launched a counter-attack, the young French rider was immediately dropped. Seixas finished the stage in 10th place, 2 minutes 55 seconds behind Carapaz, which was enough to retain his fourth place overall by more than a minute over compatriot Lenny Martinez, who finished fifth. The result capped an astonishing Grand Tour debut for the teenage French prospect.

  • Spain fights to ‘save lives’ as wildfires rage near Madrid

    Spain fights to ‘save lives’ as wildfires rage near Madrid

    A historic, record-breaking wildfire burning across dry landscapes west of Madrid has forced 70,000 residents to evacuate their homes, pushing Spanish emergency crews into a desperate fight to contain the flames that officials describe as the worst fire the region has ever seen.

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled Saturday to the fire-hit village of Cenicientos, where he emphasized that protecting human life remains the national response’s top priority. “Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas,” Sanchez told reporters on site. He warned that the coming hours would remain extremely challenging, as unpredictable high winds threaten to reignite and spread the blaze even after overnight temperatures cooled. “We do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be,” he added, noting that dropping overnight temperatures have created a narrow window of opportunity to gain ground against the fire.

    Local officials have described the blaze as an unprecedented catastrophe. Brunete Mayor Mar Nicolas told AFP she was deeply concerned for displaced residents affected by the disaster. “Every year there are fires, but this one has been tremendous. It is a catastrophe,” she said.

    The full scale of the disaster has become increasingly visible across the Madrid region: thick gray smoke has blanketed the skies west of the capital, with the acrid smell of burning vegetation reaching central Madrid’s city streets by Saturday morning. The smoke triggered respiratory irritation for local residents, forcing many to close windows and stay indoors. Spain’s Ministry of Health issued a public advisory via X urging people to avoid prolonged outdoor activity due to hazardous air quality.

    Most evacuees have found temporary shelter in repurposed sports halls and municipal gymnasiums across Madrid’s suburbs. Jacqueline Villafranca, a 38-year-old Peruvian resident of the evacuated village Navalagamella, described the chaotic evacuation that unfolded Friday evening. When emergency alerts blared on residents’ mobile phones, she told AFP, “I thought everything was going to burn, the house and everything.” Villafranca, her husband, and their two children — ages 16 and 2 — were transported by bus to a municipal shelter in Alcobendas, a northern Madrid suburb, where the family rested after a harrowing 24 hours. She recalled her 16-year-old daughter returning from a holiday camp Thursday with smoke-related irritation, saying “Mum, I can’t open my eyes, my eyes are burning,” before evacuation orders were issued.

    The blaze formed Friday when two separate wildfires burning in the Madrid region merged into one massive inferno, which is currently at risk of joining a third fire burning near Avila in the neighboring Castilla y Leon region. Overnight cool weather gave crews a much-needed reprieve: according to an update from the Madrid government delegation posted to X early Saturday, lower temperatures “greatly aided the fight against the wildfires, which advanced little and decreased in intensity.” As of Saturday, 10 villages in the Madrid region have been fully evacuated, while three additional communities have ordered residents to remain indoors to avoid smoke exposure. More than 2,000 evacuees are currently being supported across 14 dedicated emergency shelters, regional government data shows.

    The historic El Escorial Monastery, a major cultural site northwest of Madrid, was found shrouded in thick smoke during an on-site visit by an AFP reporter.

    Data from the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) shows this season’s wildfires have already burned more than 168,000 hectares of land across Spain in 2025. The country is already on track to see one of its most severe wildfire seasons in modern history: EFFIS records show 2022, which saw more than 393,000 hectares destroyed, currently holds the record as Spain’s worst wildfire season in recent decades.