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  • 1 killed, 8 injured in an overnight Russian attack on Kyiv

    1 killed, 8 injured in an overnight Russian attack on Kyiv

    KYIV, Ukraine — A deadly overnight assault involving Russian ballistic missiles has left one civilian dead and eight more wounded, according to local Ukrainian officials, marking the latest large-scale bombardment of the country’s capital amid ongoing regional conflict.

    The assault began shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time, with the wave of strikes stretching across multiple hours. Deafening explosions resonated across every quarter of Kyiv, jolting residents awake and triggering widespread emergency responses. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirmed that the strikes ignited destructive blazes across five of the capital’s districts, leaving a trail of damage that spans civilian and infrastructure sites: residential apartment blocks, private homes, commercial office spaces, industrial facilities, a student dormitory, and dozens of civilian vehicles were all hit in the attack.

    Emergency rescue teams worked through the night to extract trapped civilians from burning structures. In the Sviatoshynskyi district, crews pulled four people from a decimated private home that had caught fire. Over in the Shevchenkivskyi district, responders evacuated residents from a three-story residential building that was fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters also successfully contained a large blaze at a non-residential commercial structure in the area, where the body of the deceased victim was later recovered. Additional fire response teams were deployed to blazes across the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts, bringing the total number of affected administrative areas to five.

    The attack is part of a recent uptick in large-scale Russian strikes targeting Kyiv, coming at a critical moment where Ukrainian defense forces face a crippling shortage of Patriot air defense missiles — the most capable interceptor system Ukraine currently has to shoot down incoming Russian ballistic missiles before they reach their targets. In a recent development that could shift Kyiv’s defensive capabilities, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration is prepared to issue manufacturing licenses that would allow Ukraine to produce its own Patriot interceptor missiles domestically. If implemented, the move could significantly strengthen Ukraine’s ability to fend off ongoing Russian ballistic missile attacks. To date, however, no concrete details have been released about the scope of the agreement or a clear timeline for rolling out the domestic production program, leaving the future of this defensive boost uncertain for Ukrainian forces.

  • Man killed in waterfront crash at Eastern Beach, Geelong

    Man killed in waterfront crash at Eastern Beach, Geelong

    A tragic single-vehicle crash at one of Victoria, Australia’s most visited coastal tourist destinations has claimed the life of one man, leaving local communities shocked and investigators working to piece together what led to the incident. Emergency response teams were dispatched to the site on Eastern Beach Road in Geelong shortly after 6:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, following dozens of emergency calls from early morning beachgoers and commuters.

    Upon arrival at the scene, first responders confirmed the male driver had died at the location. As of Sunday afternoon, authorities have not released the identity of the deceased, pending next-of-kin notification. The crash left the involved vehicle with catastrophic structural damage, and scattered debris spread across a wide section of the busy road, which runs parallel to the popular waterfront.

    Multiple witnesses who were in the area early Sunday have described the incident as deeply unsettling. One local resident who arrived moments after the crash told the Geelong Advertiser the scene was “very distressing”, while another early morning walker said she was blocks away when she heard the loud impact of the crash. In a statement released shortly after the incident, Victoria Police confirmed that no pedestrians or other motorists were injured in the event, easing fears of further casualties at the crowded weekend spot.

    Local authorities confirmed that official investigations into the cause of the crash remain active and ongoing, with forensic crash units expected to complete a full examination of the site and vehicle this week. No further details about the circumstances leading up to the crash, including whether speed, alcohol, or mechanical failure were contributing factors, have been released to the public as the investigation progresses.

  • Liberal senator rejects Tony Abbott’s claim multiculturalism has ‘failed’

    Liberal senator rejects Tony Abbott’s claim multiculturalism has ‘failed’

    A public clash over Australia’s multicultural policy has erupted within the country’s Liberal Party, after former prime minister and current party president Tony Abbott claimed the decades-long framework of multiculturalism has failed, citing last year’s deadly terrorist attack at Bondi Beach as his evidence.

    In a speech circulated on social media earlier this week, Abbott argued that Australia has incorrectly opened its doors to immigrants who refuse to endorse the core values enshrined in the country’s citizenship oath. He went further, claiming that key tenets of the Islamic faith are fundamentally incompatible with the norms of Western liberal democracies, specifically calling out the Bondi attacker for disregarding Australia’s longstanding commitment to religious freedom.

    “Plainly, multiculturalism has failed and diversity is not our strength when two individuals have so rejected our national ideals,” Abbott stated in his remarks.

    The controversial claim drew an immediate public rebuke from one of the party’s senior frontbench senators, Andrew Bragg, who pushed back against Abbott’s assertion on Sunday, saying he strongly disagrees with the former leader’s assessment. Bragg emphasized that Abbott’s comments run counter to the Liberal Party’s own long historical legacy of advancing inclusive immigration and multicultural policy in Australia.

    “I don’t agree with that,” Bragg told public broadcaster ABC. He went on to explain that liberal ideology itself laid the groundwork for modern Australian multiculturalism by establishing the foundational legal and social framework that protects freedom of religion, freedom of thought, and freedom of individual conscience for all residents.

    Bragg walked through the Liberal Party’s decades-long track record of advancing inclusive policy to underscore his point: “The Liberal Party built modern Australia – if you look at the Menzies government opening up immigration after the war, the Holt government abolishing key parts of the White Australia policy, and then of course Malcolm Fraser’s actions to promote multiculturalism and introduce iconic institutions like the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). So we have a very proud record to stand on, and I think it’s very important that we’re clear about that.”

    While Abbott’s current role as party president is officially classified as administrative, political observers note he still holds significant sway over the direction of the party’s federal campaign messaging. Bragg stressed that parliamentary party leaders have a responsibility to clearly articulate the party’s stance on what multiculturalism actually represents, and how the policy aligns with both liberal values and the needs of 21st-century Australia.

    He added that any concerns over illegal activities, from terrorism to forced marriage, are often misattributed to multicultural policy. “If people have concerns about certain things in Australia, whether that be around terrorism, forced marriages, other things like that, those are things which are illegal under Australian laws, and those things are not multiculturalism,” Bragg said. “The great thing about multiculturalism is that you can subscribe to the Australian nation, its laws, and its culture, but you can engage in your own cultural practices as well.”

    When asked whether senior party figures should pressure Abbott to retract his comments or stop making similar public statements, Bragg stopped short of calling for censorship, noting that as a former prime minister, Abbott retains the right to hold and express his own personal views, even as they diverge from the party’s historical position. “He’s a former prime minister. He’s entitled to his views. And I strongly disagree with them,” Bragg summarized.

  • Rescuers in China search the rubble for survivors of landslide that killed 8 and left 34 missing

    Rescuers in China search the rubble for survivors of landslide that killed 8 and left 34 missing

    On a rainy Friday morning in Pengshui County, a mountainous suburban district of southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, a catastrophic natural disaster unfolded: a massive landslide, carrying roughly 18,000 cubic meters of rock, soil and debris including a single 3,000-cubic-meter boulder, surged down a steep slope along the Wujiang River, completely burying more than 10 residential structures. As of Sunday, the disaster has been confirmed to have claimed at least eight lives, left 34 people unaccounted for, and left local emergency response teams working around the clock to locate any remaining survivors trapped under the rubble.

    By Sunday, heavy machinery including excavators had been brought in to systematically clear debris at the disaster site, with search and rescue teams methodically combing through broken concrete and shifted earth. Witnesses at the scene observed a team of nine rescuers carrying a sealed orange body bag away from the active search zone, though official confirmation of the bag’s contents had not been released as of Sunday afternoon.

    In a statement released via Chinese social platform WeChat on Sunday, Chongqing municipal authorities outlined proactive safety measures taken after the landslide. All residents from 21 at-risk buildings within a 1-kilometer radius of the disaster site, including structures on unstable adjacent slopes and low-lying flood and landslide-prone areas, have been successfully evacuated, relocating more than 1,100 local residents to safer temporary accommodation to protect them from potential secondary disasters.

    Ten people have already been pulled alive from the rubble since the disaster struck. Officials confirmed that one of those rescued has already been discharged from medical care, while the remaining nine survivors remain in stable condition as they receive treatment for their injuries.

    Just a day prior on Saturday, search teams working with trained sniffer dogs and specialized life detection equipment picked up clear signs of life under the debris, confirming at least one person was still alive and trapped in the rubble. Rescue commanders noted that work had to proceed with extreme caution, as hasty or reckless excavation could dislodge the massive boulders scattered across the site and trigger a secondary landslide that would put both trapped survivors and rescue personnel at greater risk.

    More than 120 technical experts have been deployed to the disaster zone to support rescue efforts, providing geological assessment, search planning and engineering guidance to emergency response teams. The landslide was confirmed to have been triggered by sustained rainfall, striking a river-adjacent stretch of karst mountain terrain crisscrossed by small rural towns and agricultural terraces, in Pengshui County which borders China’s Hubei and Guizhou provinces. Reporting for this story was contributed by Leung from Hong Kong, with additional support from Associated Press video producer Wu Jia.

  • Trump celebrates the World Cup as a US victory as he prepares to present trophy to the winning team

    Trump celebrates the World Cup as a US victory as he prepares to present trophy to the winning team

    As tens of millions of soccer fans around the globe prepare to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain this Sunday, all eyes will also be on U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to step onto the pitch to present the iconic tournament trophy to the winning side. For the sitting president, however, the real victory of this month-long event is not on the line between the two competing nations — he argues it has already been claimed by the United States.

    Speaking Friday at a FIFA-hosted reception held at his Manhattan Trump Tower property, Trump emphasized that the 2026 tournament has cemented the U.S. status as a global soccer powerhouse. “It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain,” he told attendees. “This has really brought the world together.”

    Sunday’s final marks the end of more than 18 months of high-stakes logistical and political navigation for the White House, which has overseen preparations for the largest World Cup in history alongside co-hosts Canada and Mexico. The planning process was fraught with challenges from the start: the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies barred entry to fans from several countries that participated in World Cup qualifying, drawing sharp criticism from human rights organizations. Fans across the globe also pushed back against exorbitant official ticket prices. For months, Trump openly floated the idea of relocating matches from cities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and just weeks before the tournament kicked off, local officials clashed with FIFA over inflated transit costs, further escalating pre-tournament tensions.

    Even as teams arrived for their opening matches, the administration remained under intense global scrutiny over controversial visa decisions. Most notably, a highly decorated Somali referee was denied entry to the country ahead of the tournament. Tensions rose further after the Trump administration launched a military conflict with Iran, which forced the entire Iranian national team to base itself across the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico, after most of its support staff and fans were barred from entering the U.S.

    But in the end, the narrative of the tournament shifted dramatically away from political friction. Social media platforms have been flooded with viral content showing fans from every corner of the world embracing American food and cultural traditions, from craft beer to the ubiquitous ranch dressing. Many of the most widely circulated pre-tournament fears, including rumors that federal immigration authorities would conduct targeted raids near match venues, never came to fruition.

    Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told the Associated Press that the tournament has exceeded expectations. “One of the things that we talked about beforehand was, if we’re talking about what happened on the pitch, then we’ve done our job,” Giuliani explained. “But I think it’s even better than that. We’re not just talking about only the incredible, athletic feats on the pitch, but we’re talking about all these incredible, incredible cultural moments.”

    The tournament has not been without its share of political controversy, however. Earlier this month, Trump sparked outcry after placing a phone call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino to request a review of a controversial red card issued to U.S. star forward Folarin Balogun during a group stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The original ruling would have sidelined Balogun for the team’s subsequent match against Belgium. Infantino, who has already faced widespread backlash for his close ties to Trump, ultimately reversed the call. At Friday’s reception, Trump praised Infantino for the decision, saying “you made another great decision, if you think about it” — even with the U.S. falling to Belgium 4-1 in the match.

    Giuliani defended the administration’s intervention, saying the White House had a “duty” to raise concerns about officiating, which had come under scrutiny after the red card was issued following a slow-motion video review. He noted that the Trump administration had allocated billions in federal funding to ensure the World Cup was “not just a safe and secure event, not just where we welcomed the world, but an event that was filled with integrity.”

    The administration faced particularly high pressure to deliver a successful tournament, as the U.S. is already scheduled to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The country is also widely expected to be awarded hosting rights for the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Giuliani made clear in his interview that the administration’s stance on transgender participation in women’s sports would shape that bid, noting that securing hosting duties requires “ensuring that, in fact, women and only women will play in that 2031 Women’s World Cup.”

    Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, whose home state is hosting Sunday’s final and describes himself as a lifelong World Cup superfan, acknowledged that minor logistical hiccups — most notably around transit to match venues — popped up over the course of the tournament. Still, he said the overall positive energy of the event has far outweighed any setbacks. “Overall, just the joy that people have, the excitement that they have, has dramatically outweighed” any downsides, Kim said, adding he has enjoyed watching matches over the past month with his two young sons.

    Bilateral tensions have also simmered between the U.S. and its co-hosts throughout the tournament. Shortly after returning to the White House, Trump implemented steep new tariffs on both Canada and Mexico and declined to renew the tri-national trade agreement between the three countries, launching a period of tense new negotiations. Just this Friday, Trump threatened additional tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke that has worsened air quality in parts of the U.S., including northern New Jersey, where Sunday’s final will take place. He even joked during the reception that the U.S. should host the World Cup again soon, adding “this time, we’ll leave Mexico and Canada out.”

    Despite the friction, both Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have accepted Trump’s invitation to attend Sunday’s final, a powerful sign that global soccer diplomacy can cut through geopolitical gridlock. “I received an invitation from President Trump to attend the World Cup final on Sunday, and I decided to go because it’s a direct invitation from the President of the United States,” Sheinbaum confirmed to reporters. “Prime Minister Carney will also be there.”

    While Trump will fulfill the traditional duty of the host nation’s head of state by handing the trophy to the winning captain, he has not publicly revealed which side he is rooting for. That said, his administration’s geopolitical stances have made his preferences clear: Spain has long been a point of friction for Trump, due to its failure to meet NATO defense spending targets and its refusal to allow the U.S. to launch strikes against Iran from Spanish military bases. Conversely, Argentine President Javier Milei is a staunch ally of the Trump administration, with Trump even threatening to cut U.S. aid to Argentina if Milei’s coalition did not win recent legislative elections. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will attend Sunday’s match in person, while Milei will stay home in Argentina, citing soccer superstition around watching national team matches in person.

  • Spain and Argentina brace for World Cup final

    Spain and Argentina brace for World Cup final

    The historic first 48-team FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, is set to reach its thrilling climax this Sunday, with two global football powerhouses — Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Spain — set to clash in the hotly anticipated final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. For Argentina, Sunday’s match carries a unique chance to make football history: the South American side is vying to become the first men’s national team to win consecutive World Cup titles since Brazil’s legendary 1962 squad. Spain, meanwhile, enters the final hunting its second ever World Cup crown, 16 years after the nation claimed its maiden title in 2010.

    Beyond the race for the trophy, the final is widely expected to mark the last World Cup appearance for Messi, the 39-year-old Argentine icon universally regarded as the greatest player to ever step onto a football pitch. Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has urged fans traveling to the stadium to savor every moment of seeing the generational talent lead his nation out onto the pitch. “He has made history. He is a legend,” Scaloni said of the former Barcelona star, who steered Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar four years prior. Throughout the 2026 tournament, Argentina has earned a reputation for its relentless, never-say-die fighting spirit: the side pulled off a dramatic comeback from a 2-0 deficit late in its round of 16 match against Egypt, before notching another last-gasp victory over England in the semi-finals to secure its spot in the final.

    In stark contrast to Argentina’s dramatic path to the final, Spain’s campaign has been near-perfect. La Roja has conceded just one single goal across seven matches heading into Sunday, and earned a dominant semi-final win over France to book its place in the title decider. Spanish captain Rodri has warned his side to prepare for a physically intense battle, saying the team is ready to adapt its style of play to whatever challenges the match brings. “It will be a more physical one, and we must be prepared,” the midfielder noted. “But I believe that if we are known for something in this national team, it is that we know how to play different games based on the moment.”

    A day before the final, the tournament’s bronze medal match delivered its own blockbuster entertainment, with England edging out France 6-4 in a high-scoring thriller to claim third place — England’s best finish at the World Cup since the side won the tournament on home soil in 1966. The match also saw Kylian Mbappe of France claim the record for most all-time goals in World Cup history, notching his 22nd goal to move one ahead of Messi. Mbappe currently leads the 2026 tournament’s Golden Boot race with 10 goals, two ahead of Messi, who can retake both the all-time scoring record and the top scorer title with a strong performance on Sunday. Despite the personal milestone, Mbappe made clear he would have traded the record for a spot in the final: “I would have preferred not to be the all-time top scorer and to be playing tomorrow’s match,” he said.

    As the two finalists put the finishing touches on their preparations, an ongoing environmental disruption has made its presence felt across the eastern United States: thick, acrid smoke from rampant wildfires in Canada has drifted across the border, creating choking smog that has pushed air quality to dangerous levels across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. On Saturday, New York City briefly ranked as the most polluted major city on Earth, though meteorologists expect air quality conditions to improve significantly by the time the final kicks off.

    Sunday’s final will draw a high-profile crowd of attendees, with US President Donald Trump set to be among the 80,000 fans packed into MetLife Stadium, marking his first match attendance of the entire tournament. He will be joined by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, meaning the leaders of all three co-hosting nations will be present for the historic occasion. The match will also feature a star-studded entertainment lineup unprecedented in World Cup history: Tom Cruise will feature in the pre-game closing ceremony, while global music superstars Madonna and Shakira will headline the first official halftime show in World Cup history.

    In remarks ahead of the match, Trump hailed the 2026 tournament as an unprecedented success during a New York reception with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, calling it “the most successful sporting event, maybe in the history of the world.” Infantino echoed the praise, leaning into hyperbole to describe the expanded 48-team tournament, saying the event had “exceeded all expectations.” “This has not just been and is not just the greatest World Cup of all times,” Infantino said. “It is the greatest human, social, and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed.”

  • US launches more airstrikes against Iran after announcing another death of a service member

    US launches more airstrikes against Iran after announcing another death of a service member

    In the early hours of Monday, the United States launched a fresh wave of airstrikes targeting Iran, marking nine straight nights of sustained bombardment, just one day after the Pentagon confirmed the death of a third American service member killed in recent regional attacks. The rapid escalation of hostilities comes as a previously brokered interim ceasefire deal, negotiated to lay the groundwork for a permanent end to conflict between the two nations, has completely collapsed, leaving the Middle East on the brink of a wider regional war that threatens to draw in neighboring Israel and key U.S. allies across the Gulf.

    The latest American service member death was announced Saturday, after the service member was killed in Iraq while conducting a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone that had entered coalition-controlled territory. This fatality followed a deadly Iranian attack on U.S. troops stationed in Jordan that killed two service members; remains found during recovery operations for a missing service member from that strike were confirmed on Sunday, bringing the total number of U.S. service members killed since the outbreak of hostilities to 17.

    U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations across the Middle East, confirmed in an official statement that Monday’s strikes continued a campaign focused on degrading Iranian military capabilities that Tehran has used to target commercial shipping and civilian mariners moving through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global energy supplies. Shortly after the new strikes began, the British military reported a large ship caught fire off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, a route Washington has encouraged commercial vessels to use to avoid Iranian interception. The cause of the blaze remains unconfirmed as of Monday morning.

    Tehran has responded to the ongoing U.S. bombardment with retaliatory strikes targeting U.S. allied states across the Middle East, drawing Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and other Gulf nations directly into the escalating conflict. Early Monday, Iran fired a barrage of missiles toward Jordanian territory, prompting Jordan’s military, which hosts major U.S. military bases and relies on American air defense support, to shoot down multiple incoming projectiles. Jordanian officials confirmed no casualties or damage from the strike, and later summoned Iran’s top diplomatic representative in Amman to issue a formal protest.

    The missile strike toward Jordan prompted Israeli security officials to issue a rare warning, noting that falling debris from intercepted missiles could cross into Israeli territory, marking the first time Israeli civilians have faced air raid warnings in weeks. Two Israeli air defense interceptors were launched on the outskirts of Eilat, the Israeli coastal city adjacent to Jordan’s port of Aqaba, the target of the Iranian strike, to neutralize any rogue debris.

    Across the Gulf, Bahrain activated its air defense systems early Monday and the U.S. embassy in Manama issued an emergency security warning alerting American personnel to potential Iranian targeting of unspecified sites in the capital. Kuwait also confirmed that one of its key power and water desalination plants, a critical piece of civilian infrastructure that supplies nearly 90% of the country’s drinking water, was attacked for the second time in 48 hours, causing significant fires but leaving the national power grid stable.

    In a revelation that adds new urgency to global nuclear non-proliferation concerns, Iran’s state-run television reported Sunday that U.S. strikes hit the construction site of the planned Darkhovin nuclear power plant in southwestern Iran. Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs PBC on July 9 shows the site remains in early stages of development, with only preliminary earth clearing completed. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, confirmed that during its most recent inspection, the site contained no nuclear material. Iran had not previously reported any strike on the facility to international observers.

    Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, has publicly condemned Iran for targeting critical civilian infrastructure, accusing Tehran of committing war crimes. Under international humanitarian law, civilian sites including power plants, water facilities and bridges are generally protected from deliberate attack, though they lose that protection if repurposed for military use. Even in those cases, attacking forces are required to minimize civilian harm and ensure strikes are proportionate to the military objective. The U.S. has similarly targeted Iranian bridges and electrical facilities as part of its nine-day bombing campaign, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups for the risk to Iranian civilians.

    The fight for control over the Strait of Hormuz remains at the core of the ongoing conflict. Before the outbreak of war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s global oil supplies transited the narrow waterway each day, making any disruption to shipping a major threat to global energy markets. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly threatened to target Iran’s critical civilian infrastructure including power stations and bridges to force Tehran to back off its claims to control the strait, and recent U.S. targeting indicates the administration is following through on that threat. Over the past week, the U.S. Navy has reimposed a full naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt all Iranian crude oil exports, with military officials reporting Saturday that six tankers have been redirected and one Iranian vessel disabled since the blockade began.

    A maritime safety body overseen by the U.S. Navy issued an updated advisory Sunday warning that the threat to commercial mariners transiting the region remains severe, with deliberate hostile action against shipping considered highly likely. Shipping activity through the strait has fallen to a fraction of pre-war levels: just eight ships completed transits on Saturday, and only three did so on Friday, compared to a pre-war daily average of nearly 140. The near-standstill in traffic has already sent ripple effects through global energy markets, pushing fuel prices higher and hurting some of the world’s most vulnerable economies that rely on affordable energy imports.

    Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a stern warning to the U.S. in a public statement Saturday, saying that continued attacks on the Islamic Republic will result in “unforgettable lessons” for Washington. An Iranian nuclear negotiator also confirmed that Tehran is suspending all its commitments under the previously agreed interim ceasefire deal, accusing the U.S. of being the first to violate the agreement. The 60-day window set out by the interim deal to negotiate a permanent end to hostilities and resolve outstanding disputes over Iran’s nuclear program is now past its halfway point, with no signs of renewed diplomatic progress.

    Iranian authorities reported Sunday that at least 50 Iranian civilians and personnel have been killed in the latest round of U.S. airstrikes, with another 517 people wounded. Tehran has not yet released any official figures on overall material losses from the nearly two weeks of sustained exchange of fire.

  • Rescuers in Indonesia find mother and son survivors from sunken passenger boat

    Rescuers in Indonesia find mother and son survivors from sunken passenger boat

    Rescue teams working across the choppy waters off eastern Indonesia have pulled a mother and her son from the remote area where the KM Nurul Salsa passenger vessel sank earlier this week, extending a streak of small glimmers of hope amid a devastating maritime disaster. As of Sunday, search operations continue for 18 people still unaccounted for, following the vessel’s sinking off South Sulawesi Province.

    Local emergency officials confirmed that the 46-year-old woman and 24-year-old son were discovered stranded on Balaloho Island, a small populated island part of the Selayar island chain, by local fishermen who were assisting in the search effort. The pair joins seven other survivors already pulled from the sea or surrounding coastlines, after five survivors including a 7-year-old child were recovered Saturday evening. That group was found clinging to an anchored fish trap after spending three days adrift following the sinking. At least one casualty has been confirmed so far.

    In total, the stricken boat was carrying 78 passengers and crew members when it suffered catastrophic engine failure Wednesday. The sinking occurred roughly 43 nautical miles (79 kilometers) from the main port servicing the Selayar Islands. The massive search operation that followed has mobilized more than 200 professional rescuers across dozens of search vessels, with additional support from the Indonesian national military, local police forces, independent commercial fishermen, and volunteer residents from nearby island communities.

    Andi Sultan, the lead coordinator for emergency response based in Makassar, told reporters that search crews have been pushed to their limits by brutal environmental conditions. Search teams have had to operate through consistent rough seas, with waves reaching heights of 2 to 3 meters paired with persistent strong gusting winds that have complicated detection efforts and slowed search progress.

    Maritime passenger transport is an essential lifeline across Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation made up of more than 17,000 separate islands that connect hundreds of distinct communities. Unfortunately, the sector is plagued by systemic safety gaps: lax enforcement of international and national safety standards, combined with frequent overloading of passenger and cargo capacity, makes frequent deadly accidents an ongoing public safety challenge across the country.

  • Kyiv struck after attack on Russian e-commerce giant

    Kyiv struck after attack on Russian e-commerce giant

    Escalating cross-border attacks have plunged the Russia-Ukraine war into a dangerous new phase, with Russian ballistic missiles striking multiple civilian targets across Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight in retaliation for a major Ukrainian drone assault on Russian logistics infrastructure. The July 19 bombardment, which comes as Ukraine grapples with rare domestic political upheaval in its fifth year of full-scale invasion, has left conflicting casualty figures and widespread damage across the capital.

    Moments after Ukraine’s Air Force pushed an emergency alert to residents via the messaging platform Telegram warning of incoming ballistic threats, AFP correspondents on the ground in Kyiv heard multiple loud explosions. One blast was powerful enough to trigger car alarms across the city’s central district, witnesses confirmed. Initial casualty reports have been inconsistent: Kyiv’s military administration announced one fatality in a Telegram update, while Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported seven injuries with no confirmed deaths, and Ukraine’s state emergency service put the number of wounded at just two.

    Local authorities confirmed that the overnight strikes ignited multiple fires and damaged structures across five of Kyiv’s districts. In the Solomianskyi district, an apartment building was directly hit, and a nearby supermarket caught fire. A residential home burned in the Sviatoshynsky district, while strikes were also confirmed at a shopping and entertainment complex in Dniprovsky district, a second apartment building in the central Shevchenkivsky district, and an unused non-residential structure. This latest wave of attacks is part of Russia’s nearly daily campaign of missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian cities that has continued uninterrupted since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

    The retaliatory Russian strike came one day after Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on e-commerce warehouses in Russia’s Moscow and Tambov regions. Ukrainian officials confirmed the attack, which killed eight people and sparked massive infernos across the two logistics hubs. In a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the strike was a direct response to repeated Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, adding that the targeted warehouses were being used to store sanctioned components for Russian drone manufacturing and navigation systems.

    In simultaneous attacks across Ukraine on Saturday, Russian strikes killed five people and injured nearly 20 more in regions spanning the country’s southeastern frontline. Over recent months, Kyiv has stepped up long-range strikes on Russian territory, a campaign it frames as “long-range sanctions” intended to punish Moscow for its years of bombardment of Ukrainian civilian areas. The campaign has primarily targeted Russian oil infrastructure, contributing to widespread fuel shortages in one of the world’s largest oil-producing nations. Moscow has meanwhile reported a sharp rise in incoming drone attacks: Russian capital mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that more than 370 drones were launched toward the Moscow region overnight in the recent attack, adding that nearly 1,900 incoming Ukrainian drones were intercepted in the week between July 11 and 18.

    Beyond the escalating cross-border fighting, Ukraine is facing unprecedented domestic political unrest amid a sudden military leadership shakeup. For the third consecutive day on Saturday, thousands of protestors gathered in major Ukrainian cities to oppose Zelensky’s dismissal of popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The tech-focused minister, who had pushed aggressive reforms to digitize and modernize Ukraine’s war-weary military, was removed in a surprise cabinet reshuffle at a moment when Ukrainian forces had been gaining incremental momentum on the frontline, triggering a rare public backlash against Zelensky’s administration.

    The reshuffle has also fuelled widespread media speculation that army chief General Oleksandr Syrsky could be next to be replaced, as Zelensky held two consecutive days of closed-door meetings with top military commanders over the weekend. During his six months in office, Fedorov repeatedly clashed with the 60-year-old Syrsky over his modernization and digitization agenda for the Ukrainian military, which has been strained by more than four and a half years of continuous high-intensity combat.

  • New EU border system tripling time at passport control, airport boss says

    New EU border system tripling time at passport control, airport boss says

    As peak summer travel season hits the European Union, the bloc’s newly rolled-out digital Entry Exit System (EES) has triggered widespread long queues and significant processing delays for non-EU travelers at major continental airports, drawing sharp criticism from airport operators and airline carriers alike.

    Implemented in a phased rollout starting last October, EES mandates that all non-EU citizens entering the 29-nation Schengen Area must register biometric data — including fingerprints and a facial photograph — upon arrival, with the information cross-checked when travelers exit the bloc. Most processing is completed via standalone automated kiosks, though minors and other travelers with special requirements must complete the step in person with border agents. Even with incremental technical adjustments and process changes implemented in recent months, top officials at Rome’s Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Italy’s busiest international gateway, confirm wait times for UK travelers have nearly tripled compared to pre-EES protocols.

    Fiumicino’s Chief Aviation Officer Ivan Bassato told the BBC that even after integrating EES processing into existing passport e-gates — a modification that followed a €12 million investment in standalone kiosks that proved unable to handle peak passenger volumes — average wait times for UK nationals have jumped from just 7 minutes pre-EES to 20 minutes currently. Some passengers arriving during peak windows have reported waiting one to two hours to clear border control, with several missing connecting transportation and even departing flights after long holds. Bassato, whose airport is widely regarded as one of the most technologically advanced in Europe, emphasized that current wait times are unacceptable, calling for urgent systemic fixes. He outlined two key adjustments: cutting redundant process steps that create unnecessary duplication, and expanding the use of the EU’s pre-registration app, which is currently only active in two member states: Sweden and Portugal.

    While airport and airline leaders have urged the European Commission to allow member states to temporarily suspend EES during peak travel periods to ease congestion, a policy meeting held earlier this month failed to produce any changes to the current framework. Member states retain the right to suspend the system only under exceptional circumstances.

    The issue is not isolated to Italy. At Portugal’s busy Faro Airport, a top destination for summer sun-seeking UK travelers, border police have also documented growing delays linked to EES, as well as recurring technical bugs. Superintendent Pedro Oliveira, head of border control at Faro, acknowledged that what previously would have been a 10-minute wait can now stretch to more than 30 minutes. He added that the system is vulnerable to cross-network outages: server issues originating in other parts of the EU can crash EES across all member states simultaneously, requiring a full system reboot that adds more downtime for passengers. Oliveira noted that these outages have become less frequent in recent months, and that extreme waits over an hour are rare at Faro, limited only to unexpected peaks when dozens of flights arrive within a narrow window. Portugal has responded to delays by recruiting additional border officers and adjusting rules to require all minors under 16 to process with staff rather than kiosks.

    Budget carrier Ryanair, one of the largest operators of transnational flights into the EU, has been among the most vocal critics of the rollout, calling it a “failed implementation” that creates avoidable travel disruption. The airline has warned UK passengers traveling to Europe this summer to plan for extended waits and build extra time into their travel itineraries. Passengers interviewed across Rome, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, shared widespread stories of frustrating delays: UK traveler Carl, who arrived in Rome from Yorkshire with young children, reported a two-hour wait from plane disembarkation to border clearance. “I knew it was going to be bad, but not that bad,” he said. US visitor David, traveling with his wife, waited an hour and missed his pre-booked private transfer. Other travelers arriving through Barcelona similarly reported 45 to 60 minute waits, with some noting their border queue time matched the length of their flight to Spain.

    In response to the widespread reports of disruption, the European Commission stated that disruptions are limited at most EU airports, adding that it will continue providing full support to member states as they work through implementation challenges.