Global Pulse

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  • England win toss, bat in series-deciding 3rd ODI against India at Lord’s

    England win toss, bat in series-deciding 3rd ODI against India at Lord’s

    One of the most anticipated men’s One Day International series of the northern summer has reached its decisive final chapter, with England winning the pre-match coin toss and choosing to take the batting crease first in the third and final ODI against India at London’s iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday.

    The five-match? No, three-match series has already delivered plenty of drama, splitting the two sides one win apiece ahead of Sunday’s decider. England fell to defeat in the opening fixture at Birmingham’s Edgbaston, but mounted a crucial comeback in the second match in Cardiff, where veteran batsman Joe Root’s unbeaten knock of 99 runs proved the decisive difference between the two sides, securing England’s equalizing win.

    For England, this match also carries the weight of historical pressure: the home side has not claimed a series victory over India in ODI play since 2018, giving Sunday’s decider far more stakes than just a single match result.

    Both sides made key tactical changes to their starting lineups ahead of the opening innings. England made one swap, calling up pace bowler Josh Tongue to replace Saqib Mahmood in the 11-man squad. India opted for a more extensive reshuffle, making three total changes to their side: KL Rahul, rookie spinner Prince Yadav, and left-arm pace bowler Arshdeep Singh earned starting spots, stepping in for pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, all-rounder Washington Sundar and batting all-rounder Shivam Dube.

    The full confirmed starting lineups for the decider are as follows:
    England: Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook (captain), Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
    India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna

  • France commemorates the Vel d’Hiv roundup after a Paris plaque honoring rescuers is vandalized

    France commemorates the Vel d’Hiv roundup after a Paris plaque honoring rescuers is vandalized

    On a solemn Sunday in Paris, France gathered to honor the memory of more than 13,000 Jewish victims of the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup, one of the darkest chapters of collaboration between the wartime Vichy regime and Nazi Germany. The annual commemoration this year carries heightened urgency, as the nation confronts a sharp increase in antisemitic violence and harassment across the country following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023.

    The mass arrest operation, named for the Paris Winter Velodrome where thousands of detainees were crowded in inhumane conditions before deportation, unfolded over four days starting July 16, 1942. French authorities mobilized more than 4,500 police officers and requisitioned dozens of civilian buses to carry out the raid, acting on Nazi orders. Over 13,000 Jews were arrested, one-third of them children. Families were torn apart as officers seized children from their parents’ arms, and nearly all detainees were ultimately sent to Nazi death camps, where very few survived.

    During World War II, after Nazi Germany invaded and occupied France in 1940, the collaborationist Vichy government administered French territory and actively aided the Nazi regime’s genocidal campaign against European Jewry. It would take five decades for the French state to formally take responsibility for its role in the Holocaust: in 1992, then-President Jacques Chirac issued a historic public apology for the French authorities’ central participation in the Vel d’Hiv roundup and other atrocities.

    Today, France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe. In the months after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza, official data has recorded a major surge in antisemitic incidents, ranging from verbal threats and graffiti vandalism to physical assaults on Jewish people and sites. The troubling wave of hate cast a shadow over this year’s commemoration, after authorities confirmed a memorial plaque honoring a French family recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel was vandalized in Paris in the days leading up to the ceremony. The family had saved a 13-year-old Jewish child from capture during the 1942 roundup.
    French Deputy Defense Minister Alice Rufo condemned the act of vandalism in stark terms, saying “To attack the Righteous is to desecrate the entire universe.” She reaffirmed the state’s commitment to restoring the plaque and preserving the legacy of those who resisted antisemitism and genocide, stressing that “In the face of antisemitism, in all its forms, the Republic will not yield an inch.”

    Each year’s commemoration serves as both a tribute to the victims of the roundup and a reminder of the ongoing need to confront antisemitic hate in modern French society, keeping the memory of the Vel d’Hiv victims alive for future generations.

  • The World Cup final is here, with Argentina taking on Spain in soccer’s showdown

    The World Cup final is here, with Argentina taking on Spain in soccer’s showdown

    After more than three weeks of world-class soccer action across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup — the expanded 48-team edition that already holds the title of the largest World Cup in tournament history — is set for its climax on Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium, where two global powerhouses will clash for soccer’s most coveted prize: four-time finalists Argentina, seeking their fourth World Cup crown, face off against Spain, who are gunning for their second men’s title. A win for Spain would make history, as it would become the first nation ever to hold both the men’s and women’s World Cup trophies simultaneously, following Spain’s women’s team victory at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

    This expanded 48-team tournament has already broken multiple records before the final whistle even blows. With 103 matches completed heading into Sunday’s final, the 2026 edition has already seen more total goals scored than any previous World Cup, with 307 goals on the board entering the championship clash. If Argentina and Spain net at least two combined goals in the final, this tournament will claim another milestone: the highest average goals per game since the 1956 World Cup, which posted an average of 3.6 goals per match. Even if the two sides combine for fewer than two goals, 2026 will still hold the second-highest average goals per game in World Cup history, outperforming every tournament since the 1970 World Cup, which averaged 2.97 goals per game.

    Beyond the on-pitch action, this final will deliver a unprecedented global entertainment spectacle, a first for FIFA’s men’s World Cup. Grammy-nominated multiplatinum artist Post Malone will headline the official closing ceremony, scheduled to begin 90 minutes before kickoff. For the first time in men’s World Cup history, the match will feature a star-studded halftime show headlined by a roster of global superstars: Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, and KRT, joined afropop icon Burna Boy, award-winning Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the acclaimed PS 22 Chorus with a special guest appearance from Coldplay, and even beloved characters from Sesame Street and The Muppets.

    High-profile attendance is also expected for the historic match, with former U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed to be in attendance and scheduled to take part in the post-match trophy presentation. Ahead of kickoff, both sides have confirmed their kit choices: Argentina will take the pitch in its iconic light blue and white vertically striped home jerseys, while Spain will wear its primary kit of predominantly red with navy blue sleeves. Officiating the historic final is a crew from Slovenia, led by head referee Slavko Vinčić, with assistant referees Tomaž Klančnik and Andraž Kovačič.

    For Argentina, the match also represents a chance for captain Lionel Messi to add another chapter to his already legendary career. Messi enters the final within striking distance of tournament leader Kylian Mbappé for the Golden Boot, and is also in contention for a record third Golden Ball award, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players to ever step onto a soccer pitch.

  • If history is any indication, expect some goals in the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain

    If history is any indication, expect some goals in the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain

    As the world’s biggest stage in men’s soccer prepares for its headline showdown between Argentina and Spain, decades of World Cup history offer compelling context and fascinating storylines to watch when the two sides step onto the pitch Sunday.

    First, fans can reasonably expect a high-scoring, action-packed clash, if past finals are any indicator. An analysis of 22 prior men’s title matches — including the 1950 decisive fixture between Uruguay and Brazil that settled the tournament despite not bearing the official “final” label — shows that winning sides have notched an average of 2.6 goals per final, while losing teams add an average of 1.1 goals to the scoreboard.

    Recent finals have leaned heavily into this offensive tradition: the 2018 and 2022 title matches combined for a staggering 12 total goals. In 2018, France outpaced Croatia 4-2 to claim the crown, and four years later, Argentina and France fought to a 3-3 draw before Argentina secured the win on penalties. Overall, 17 of the last World Cup titles went to teams that scored at least two goals in the final, though eight teams have hit that two-goal mark and still walked away empty-handed. Low-scoring title games are far rarer: only three finals have ended 1-0 (West Germany over Argentina in 1990, Spain over Netherlands in 2010, and Germany over Argentina in 2014), and just one final ended 0-0 in regulation, when Brazil bested Italy on penalties in the 1994 tournament — the only previous World Cup final held on U.S. soil before this edition.

    Beyond historical scoring trends, multiple coaching and player milestones hang in the balance this Sunday. For Argentina, if the side lifts the trophy, head coach Lionel Scaloni — who already led the Albiceleste to the 2022 World Cup title — will cement his place in history as just the second manager ever to win two World Cup championships. The only other coach to achieve this feat is Vittorio Pozzo, who led Italy to back-to-back titles in 1934 and 1938, a record that has stood unmatched for nearly 90 years. Three other managers (Brazil’s Mário Zagallo, West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and France’s Didier Deschamps) have won World Cups as both a player and a coach, but none have claimed two triumphs on the touchline.

    Argentina’s global icon Lionel Messi is also set to make history just by stepping onto the field. At 39 years old, Messi will become the oldest outfield player ever to appear in a men’s World Cup final. The previous record for the oldest outfield finalist belonged to Sweden’s Gunnar Gren, who was 37 when he faced Brazil in the 1958 final. The only player older than Messi to ever start in a World Cup final is Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff, who was 40 when he backstopped Italy to the 1982 title. Additionally, Messi is on the cusp of joining Brazil’s Cafu as only the second man to play in three men’s World Cup finals; unlike Cafu, who was a reserve for one of his three final appearances, Messi will be the first player ever to start in three men’s World Cup title matches.

    For Spain, the final brings its own set of potential history-making moments, centered on a unique blend of youthful talent and veteran leadership. La Roja is expected to field two 19-year-old teenagers, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, in its starting lineup. No men’s World Cup champion has ever put more than one teenager in the starting lineup for the final, putting this young duo in uncharted territory. Teenagers actually hold an unbeaten record in World Cup finals, per FIFA data: only three teens have ever played in a men’s final, and all three left with winner’s medals: 17-year-old Pelé for Brazil in 1958, 18-year-old Giuseppe Bergomi for Italy in 1982, and 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé for France in 2018.

    If Spain claims the win, their 65-year-old head coach Luis de la Fuente will break another age record, becoming the oldest manager ever to win a World Cup. The current record is held by Vicente del Bosque, who was 59 when he led Spain to the 2010 World Cup title.

    Entering the final, both sides carry impressive ongoing streaks that add to the narrative. Spain enters the match unbeaten in 37 consecutive matches (28 wins, 9 draws), a run that ties Italy’s 2018-2021 stretch for the longest unbeaten streak by any European men’s national team in history. Argentina also boasts a notable tournament streak: the Albiceleste have won seven consecutive World Cup matches, tying Italy for the second-longest consecutive win streak in men’s World Cup history. Only Brazil, which won 11 straight World Cup matches across the 2002 and 2006 tournaments, holds a longer streak.

    Sunday’s showdown will only be the second time Argentina and Spain have faced off in a World Cup. The pair’s only prior tournament meeting came in the 1966 group stage, where Argentina claimed a 2-1 win. Across all competitive matches and friendlies, the two sides are remarkably evenly matched: they have played 14 times total, with six wins apiece and two draws, setting the stage for what is expected to be a tightly contested, historic final.

  • Ferry carrying 116 passengers sinks off Guyana coast, authorities say

    Ferry carrying 116 passengers sinks off Guyana coast, authorities say

    A major maritime disaster has unfolded off the northern coast of Guyana, where a passenger ferry carrying 116 people capsized and sank late Wednesday local time, triggering a large-scale overnight rescue operation involving both government and private vessels. The vessel, identified as the MV Barima, was traveling along its scheduled route from the capital city of Georgetown to Port Kaituma when it overturned near the coastal outpost of Iron Punt.

    According to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, local emergency authorities received an initial distress signal from the ferry at 23:01 local time, which translates to 03:01 British Summer Time. The alert immediately launched a coordinated search and rescue mission, with rescuers working through darkness and challenging coastal conditions to pull survivors from the water. As of the latest official update, 53 passengers have been pulled to safety, but the fate of the remaining 63 people on board remains unknown.

    Details of the vessel show that the MV Barima is no ordinary ferry: launched all the way back in 1939, the 40-meter (131-foot) craft has been in service for more than 80 years, according to vessel tracking data from maritime industry database VesselFinder. Edghill confirmed that the ship was equipped with sufficient safety equipment ahead of its voyage, including 250 life jackets, two rigid-hulled lifeboats and six inflatable life craft. Even so, the rapid capsizing left many passengers stranded in open water before safety gear could be deployed.

    Guyana’s top government officials have moved quickly to oversee the emergency response. Prime Minister Mark Phillips is personally leading the government’s coordination of the search and rescue effort, as authorities work to clarify the status of ongoing operations and assess what led to the sudden sinking. At this stage, it remains unclear whether rescue teams expect to find more survivors, and officials have not yet released any information about possible casualties or the cause of the incident. Local communities along the coast have mobilized to support the operation, with private boat owners joining the effort to search for missing passengers in nearby waters.

  • Messi on the brink of history – will it be his last World Cup game?

    Messi on the brink of history – will it be his last World Cup game?

    Argentina stands on the cusp of an unprecedented piece of football history, needing just one more victory in Sunday’s 2026 World Cup final to etch their name alongside the sport’s immortals. If head coach Lionel Scaloni’s side can overcome European champions Spain to claim the title, they will become only the third men’s national team ever to win consecutive World Cup trophies, joining an elite club that currently only includes 1930s Italy and 1950s Brazil.

    For Argentina to cross that finish line, all eyes will once again fall on 39-year-old legend Lionel Messi, who has delivered another tournament for the ages to carry his side this far. Whether fans label him the undisputed greatest of all time or merely rank him among the top contenders, there is no arguing that the Argentine playmaker has redefined what elite attacking play looks like across a decades-long career that has rewritten the sport’s record books.

    A Sunday victory would not only secure back-to-back World Cup titles for Argentina — it would also make Messi the first men’s captain in history to lift the World Cup trophy twice. After a string of underwhelming performances across his first four World Cup appearances, Messi exploded into form at the 2022 Qatar tournament, leading Argentina to their first crown in 36 years, and he has picked up right where he left off in North America four years later. Currently, he sits just one goal behind France’s Kylian Mbappe in the race to become the World Cup’s all-time leading men’s goalscorer, an extraordinary milestone for a player who briefly walked away from international football entirely back in 2016, only to reverse his retirement months later.

    Sunday’s final will mark Messi’s 34th World Cup appearance, stretching across six tournaments, and a growing debate has emerged around whether this will mark his final outing in Argentina’s iconic blue and white stripes — or whether the legend has another World Cup run left in him, when the tournament celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2030.

    If Messi does elect to continue his international career through 2030, he will make history again as the oldest outfield player to ever feature at a men’s World Cup, turning 43 before the tournament kicks off — a record that would only be broken if his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo chooses to extend his own Portugal career to join him. Beyond the record books, 2030 also offers a deeply sentimental draw for Messi: the centenary tournament will host at least one opening match on Argentine soil, offering the homegrown icon a chance to play a World Cup game in front of his own nation’s fans. That opportunity is one many close to Messi believe will be too tempting to turn down.

    “Even if you hear it is the end, I doubt it but we’ll see. I just see him with the national side, simply because he enjoys it,” Spanish football expert Guillem Balague told BBC Sport. “I don’t see him being at Inter Miami in the MLS, still performing and then saying that’s it and he’s going to play out the rest of his career with Inter Miami. I feel that he hasn’t said the last word yet. He finishes games, 120-minute games, at 39. In the first 90 minutes against Cape Verde, he covered 6.5km and 62% of that is walking. You can add a bit more walking. The passion is still there. All of that means he’s not going to leave the national side.”

    Messi’s 2026 World Cup campaign has been nothing short of sensational, with eight goals in seven matches and a string of match-winning displays that dragged Argentina through the knockout rounds. Scaloni, who has led Messi and his side to two consecutive finals, has no hesitation in anointing the 39-year-old as the greatest to ever play the game.

    “He is history, a legend. I feel proud, he is the best footballer the world has ever seen and reaching a final at 39 is something unbelievable — and that is why I said we must enjoy him,” Scaloni told reporters. “With Diego Maradona, we still miss him but Messi is still with us so we must enjoy him. I have no idea if this is Leo’s last game, you will have to ask him. We haven’t discussed it.”

    Messi’s remarkable late-career resurgence on the World Cup stage is one of the most unexpected stories in modern football: 15 of his 21 all-time World Cup goals have come after his 35th birthday, a statistic that defies conventional wisdom about athletic aging. This late-career hot streak has already seen Messi break multiple tournament records, and he adds more with each game he plays.

    While he didn’t find the back of the net in Argentina’s semi-final comeback win over England, two late assists from Messi secured the victory, pushing his all-time World Cup assist total to 12 — 10 of which have come in knockout rounds, a new all-time record. Already the leader in World Cup appearances with 33, Messi is one of only two players (alongside Ronaldo) to feature at six men’s World Cups, the only player to win two World Cup Golden Balls, and the only player to score in every round of a World Cup on the way to lifting the trophy. He also holds the record for the longest consecutive run of scoring or assisting in World Cup matches, with 11 straight games dating back to 2022, and has scored in nine consecutive World Cup games, another unprecedented record. Sunday’s final will also see him become only the second player after Brazil’s Cafu to start three men’s World Cup finals.

    It is worth noting that Messi already predicted his World Cup career would end after the 2022 tournament, telling reporters before that final: “I am very happy for finishing my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final. That is really very gratifying. There are a lot of years from this year to the next one. I don’t think I will be able to do that. To finish this way is brilliant.”

    That prediction, of course, did not come to pass. So regardless of any announcements that come after Sunday’s 2026 final, the football world will be waiting to see if Messi has one more magical chapter left in his World Cup story, on home soil in 2030.

  • Russia pounds Kyiv with ballistic missiles in escalating air war

    Russia pounds Kyiv with ballistic missiles in escalating air war

    In an escalation of the ongoing air conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Moscow launched a massive barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight Sunday, leaving one civilian dead and 16 others injured. The attack marks one of the largest concentrated ballistic missile strikes on the capital in months, deepening civilian casualties amid a rapidly intensifying air campaign that has hit populated areas on both sides of the front line.

    Eyewitnesses on the ground described a terrifying sequence of nonstop explosions that shook residential neighborhoods. “The missiles just kept coming one after another, the explosions were powerful, it was horrible,” 47-year-old Kyiv resident Ganna Zagorodnia told AFP. “I thought that life was just about to end.” When morning broke, AFP reporters observed widespread destruction across the city: charred facades on multi-story apartment blocks, shattered glass blown out hundreds of meters from blast sites, and crumpled, overturned vehicles littering residential streets.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the scale of the attack in a post on X, noting that Russian forces launched more than 40 missiles of multiple types, with the vast majority targeted at Kyiv. Of those, 25 were ballistic missiles—high-speed, difficult-to-intercept weapons that Russia frequently fires in rapid, overwhelming salvos to overwhelm air defense systems. Local authorities reported the strike hit six districts across Kyiv, damaging residential buildings, public supermarkets, and a local entertainment center.

    Russia has repeatedly denied intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure, and in a statement following the attack, officials said the strikes hit legitimate military facilities and logistics nodes in Kyiv, as well as port assets used by the Ukrainian military in the Black Sea city of Odesa.

    The attack comes as Ukraine faces a dual crisis: intensifying Russian pressure from the air and growing domestic political unrest triggered by a sudden shakeup of the country’s defense leadership. For three consecutive days, thousands of demonstrators have gathered in major Ukrainian cities to protest the dismissal of popular former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, a tech-focused official who earned broad public support during the war. Zelensky’s surprise reshuffle, announced amid reports that frontline fighting has stabilized, has sparked a rare public backlash against the wartime government.

    On the military front, the latest bombardment has underscored Ukraine’s critical shortage of air defense interceptors, a gap Russia is actively exploiting to step up strikes on Kyiv. Zelensky emphasized the urgency of the situation, stating, “Protection against ballistic missiles is our constant and top priority right now. Interceptors are needed every day.” Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli conflict in the Middle East, Ukraine has faced depleted stockpiles of interceptor missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot systems, the primary defense Ukraine relies on to shoot down incoming ballistic rounds. Over the past 35 days, Kyiv has now faced four large-scale ballistic missile attacks, with roughly one major barrage launched per week, according to Yuriy Ignat, Ukrainian Air Force communications chief.

    The escalation of air operations is not limited to Ukrainian territory. Ukraine has ramped up its own long-range strike campaign against Russian infrastructure in recent months, hitting targets deep inside Russian borders in what Kyiv calls “long-range sanctions” in retaliation for years of Russian bombardments of Ukrainian cities. On Monday, Russian regional governor Alexander Khinshtein reported that a Ukrainian strike killed one civilian in the border region of Kursk. A separate drone attack hit the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, a key Black Sea export hub for Kazakh oil that counts major Western energy firms Chevron and Shell as partial owners. The consortium confirmed two crude oil tankers were damaged in the strike, forcing a full halt to pumping operations. A day earlier, Ukrainian drone strikes destroyed two large e-commerce warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions, killing eight workers and sparking massive infernos that burned for hours. Ukraine’s cross-border campaign, which has primarily targeted Russian oil and energy infrastructure, has already contributed to a widespread fuel shortage in one of the world’s largest oil-producing nations.

    Civilian casualties have spiked sharply amid this mutual escalation of air strikes. The United Nations reports June 2025 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, with at least 293 civilian lives lost across the country. With frontline fighting largely locked in a stalemate and peace talks remaining completely frozen, the war—already the bloodiest European conflict since World War II—continues to exact a growing toll on civilian populations on both sides.

  • Russia launches major ballistic missile attack on Kyiv

    Russia launches major ballistic missile attack on Kyiv

    Overnight drone and missile strikes exchanged between Russia and Ukraine have sent tensions soaring to new heights in the nearly four-year full-scale invasion, with the Ukrainian capital Kyiv absorbing one of the largest ballistic missile assaults of the war to date. Ukrainian officials confirmed that the Russian bombardment left at least one civilian dead and at least 14 others wounded, after a wave of projectiles targeted multiple districts across Kyiv and its surrounding suburbs.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy labeled the attack as one of the most extensive ballistic missile campaigns against Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. In an official update shared via Telegram, Zelenskyy added context to the mounting pressure facing Ukraine, noting that over the preceding seven days, Russian forces had launched roughly 1,450 attack drones, more than 1,640 precision-guided bombs, and 99 missiles of different variants against Ukrainian targets across the country.

    According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the overnight assault on Kyiv deployed a diverse arsenal of Russian weaponry, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, hypersonic Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles, and a total of 125 attack drones. Ukrainian air defense crews managed to intercept 18 of the 41 incoming ballistic missiles, as well as 108 of the drones launched in the wave. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko confirmed that both civilian residential buildings and commercial non-residential structures suffered damage in the strikes, with a local supermarket and a student dormitory among the impacted sites. Emergency response teams remained on scene through Sunday morning, working to extinguish large fires that broke out at two commercial warehouses damaged in the attack.

    The Russian strikes on Kyiv came in direct retaliation for a coordinated Ukrainian drone assault on facilities owned by Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer, widely compared to Amazon in the United States. The drone attacks destroyed two Wildberries warehouses, left eight people dead, and triggered massive uncontrolled fires at the sites. Seven of the fatalities and 25 injuries were reported at a warehouse in Tambov, a city located roughly 475 kilometers southeast of Moscow. One additional fatality and 37 injuries were recorded at a second warehouse in Elektrostal, a city just outside the Russian capital.

    In a statement released Saturday, Zelenskyy defended Ukraine’s cross-border targeting operations, framing them as a direct response to repeated Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and population centers. The governor of Russia’s Stavropol Krai, a southwestern region of the country, also confirmed that a separate Ukrainian drone attack sparked a large fire at a local industrial park over the weekend, marking another in a growing string of strikes on Russian territory.

    In recent weeks, Ukraine has significantly ramped up its long-range drone campaign against Russian critical energy infrastructure, a strategy that has reportedly caused widespread fuel shortages across parts of Russia. Earlier this month, Ukrainian officials claimed that their strikes had disabled approximately 43 percent of Russia’s total oil refining capacity, a figure that the BBC has not been able to independently verify. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated that Russian oil and gas facilities are legitimate military targets, arguing that Moscow depends heavily on revenue from fossil fuel exports to fund its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Founded in 2004, Wildberries has grown into Russia’s largest e-commerce platform; earlier this year, Forbes Russia valued the combined RWB group, which merges Wildberries and Russian advertising firm Russ, at roughly $12.6 billion.

  • Neighbours actor Terence Donovan dies aged 90

    Neighbours actor Terence Donovan dies aged 90

    Beloved British-Australian screen and stage performer Terence Donovan, whose decades-long career cemented his status as a staple of Australian television and film, has passed away at 90, his family has confirmed. The actor drew his final breath peacefully on Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia, according to a joint statement shared by his sons — fellow actor Jason Donovan and Paul Donovan.

    In an emotional public tribute posted to social media, the pair remembered their father as an unforgettable, larger-than-life presence that anchored their family. “Our Dad was a huge character, larger than life. He was our best friend … our world! We will desperately miss him but we take comfort knowing we were all here by his side in his final days,” they wrote. They added that the family finds peace in the knowledge Donovan lived fully, embracing his core mantra: “in life it’s either a daring adventure or nothing at all. How lucky are we to have a Dad like you.”

    Born in London, Donovan moved to Australia as a teenager, launching his entertainment career first as a vocalist before making his on-screen debut in the early 1960s. A decade into his career, he landed two of his most iconic television roles: first as Detective Mick Peters in the hit 1970s Australian police procedural *Division 4*, followed by a turn as Detective Senior Sergeant Vic Cameron on another popular police drama, *Cop Shop*, which ran through the 1980s.

    In the 1990s, Donovan joined the cast of Australia’s most famous long-running soap opera *Neighbours* as Doug Willis, stepping into the role shortly after his son Jason — a former *Neighbours* star who rose to global fame on the show — departed the series. He later took another well-known soap role, playing Al Simpson on fellow Australian drama *Home and Away*. Beyond his 60-year television career, Donovan built an impressive resume in film, with memorable supporting turns in iconic Australian features including *The Man from Snowy River* and *Breaker Morant*, and he also appeared in dozens of stage productions across the country.

    Beyond his work in front of the camera, Donovan was a passionate advocate for the Australian screen industry. In the early 1970s, when local production was being crowded out by an influx of imported content from the U.S. and UK, Donovan used his public profile to rally support for domestic storytelling. Jason Donovan noted in his tribute that his father famously joined public marches demanding local content, carrying banners that read “T.V. MAKE IT AUSTRALIA NOW.”

    That advocacy delivered lasting change: campaigning by Donovan and other supporters led to the introduction of rules requiring commercial Australian broadcasters to air a minimum quota of local content. “Without people like my Dad we might not have seen the growth in the industry during the 70s and 80s, and indirectly, Australian films such as *The Man From Snowy River*, *Breaker Morant*, *Picnic at Hanging Rock*, *Priscilla*, *Muriel’s Wedding*, *Crocodile Dundee* [and] *Strictly Ballroom*,” Jason added, highlighting the far-reaching impact of his father’s activism that continues to benefit Australian entertainment today.

  • Cuban dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara goes into exile in US

    Cuban dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara goes into exile in US

    After serving five years behind bars in Cuba, one of the Caribbean nation’s most high-profile government critics has arrived in the United States to begin a life in exile. Thirty-eight-year-old Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara heads the San Isidro Movement (SIM), a collective of artists, independent journalists, and intellectuals that has spent years organizing grassroots campaigns for expanded freedom of expression and democratic governance in Cuba, a one-party communist state.

    Otero Alcántara was first taken into custody in 2021, amid the largest anti-government demonstrations Cuba had seen in more than 30 years. For his entire sentence, he was incarcerated at the maximum-security Guanajay prison facility on the outskirts of Havana. In the days leading up to his departure, his location remained undisclosed as Cuban officials processed his release while U.S. authorities reviewed and approved his parole application.

    When he stepped out into the public terminal at Miami International Airport, Otero Alcántara was met by a crowd of cheering supporters who sang the Cuban national anthem in welcome. The dissident held up his hand, curving his thumb and forefinger to form the shape of the letter L – a well-known anti-government symbol that stands for “Libertad,” the Spanish word for freedom. Speaking to reporters shortly after his arrival, Otero Alcántara made clear his criticism of the Cuban government would not end with his exile. “I believe the dictatorship has to end, and the Castro dynasty has to end, as well,” he said. “Because as long as there is a Castro in power, there will be corruption.”

    Cuban authorities have long alleged that the San Isidro Movement receives direct funding from the U.S. government and operates as a front to destabilize the Cuban state – claims the movement and its members uniformly reject. SIM organizers say their members are routinely targeted by Cuban security forces, with many subjected to arbitrary detainment and harassment for their activism.

    The 2021 protests that led to Otero Alcántara’s arrest saw hundreds of demonstrators taken into custody across the island, and the case of the dissident leader and his SIM colleague Maykel Castillo, a musician better known by his stage name Osorbo who is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence, has been a persistent flashpoint in diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana.

    Tensions between the two nations have spiked sharply in recent months under the current U.S. administration, which has imposed a full oil blockade on Cuba, expanded sweeping economic sanctions, and issued open threats of potential military intervention. Just last week, CBS News, the U.S. news partner of the BBC, reported that Pentagon officials had held internal briefings reviewing potential military options for action against Cuba, though the report emphasized that the discussions did not indicate a final decision to launch an operation had been made.

    The U.S. oil blockade has deepened an already severe national fuel crisis on the island, pushing Cuban communities to face extended daily power blackouts and worsening widespread food shortages. In May, the U.S. further escalated hostilities by issuing an unprecedented murder indictment against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, connected to the 1996 downing of two private aircraft operated by a Cuban exile group, an incident that killed four people. The indictment drew immediate condemnation from both Russia and China, which reject U.S. interference in Cuban sovereign affairs.

    Economic strain from the ongoing sanctions has also hit Cuba’s critical tourism sector hard. Official data from Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) shows that fewer than 360,000 international tourists visited the island in the first five months of 2026, a nearly 60% drop from the same period in 2025. In comments following Otero Alcántara’s release, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on Washington’s stance, calling the Cuban government’s 2021 crackdown on protesters a reminder of “the unique misery and evil that is innate to the communist system.” He added that Otero Alcántara’s only offense was “refusing to stay silent and using his art to demand the basic freedoms everyday Cubans have been denied for almost seven decades.” U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that a peaceful negotiated agreement with Cuba is unlikely under current conditions.