Global Pulse

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  • Australia coach Popovic signs contract extension ahead of Socceroos’ opener at World Cup

    Australia coach Popovic signs contract extension ahead of Socceroos’ opener at World Cup

    On the eve of Australia’s opening 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D clash with Turkey, Football Australia has announced a major vote of confidence in men’s national team head coach Tony Popovic: a contract extension that will keep him at the helm through the start of 2027.

    The 52-year-old manager, a former Socceroos player himself, only took the position in September 2024, but quickly guided the Australian side through a successful qualification campaign that booked their spot in the expanded 48-team World Cup tournament. Under the new terms of the deal, Popovic will also lead Australia through the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, scheduled to be held across Saudi Arabia in January and early February of that year.

    Speaking ahead of his side’s first World Cup group stage match Saturday, Popovic emphasized that his full focus remains on the tournament at hand, rather than the new contract. “I’m proud to lead my country into a World Cup, but most importantly, I want to ensure that our team is fully prepared and focused on our group matches against Turkey, the United States, and Paraguay,” he said, outlining the three tough opponents Australia will face in the opening round of the competition.

    The contract extension announcement comes amid significant anticipation for the Socceroos’ World Cup run, with fans and governing body officials alike signaling approval of Popovic’s early work rebuilding the national squad following his appointment last year.

  • Kenya holds a memorial service for 16 victims of last month’s girls school fire

    Kenya holds a memorial service for 16 victims of last month’s girls school fire

    NAIROBI, Kenya – Hundreds of grieving mourners packed a memorial service Friday in Gilgil, a central Kenyan town, to pay final respects to 16 female students who lost their lives in a devastating dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls Academy last month. Authorities have confirmed the blaze was an intentional arson attack, and nine current students of the academy remain in police custody as the investigation continues.

    The ceremony unfolded against a backdrop of growing national anxiety over a worsening crisis of school unrest: dozens of learning institutions across Kenya have shut their doors in recent weeks amid a surge in student-led violence and fire incidents. The remains of the deceased students were laid to rest in white coffins, each decorated with fresh blooms and a portrait of the young life cut short. Rows of the caskets were displayed before an audience of grieving family members, shaken classmates, local community leaders and elected officials, nearly all of whom united in urgent calls for accountability and systemic change.

    Investigative updates from police indicate the nine accused students intentionally set fire to a mattress placed at the dormitory exit on May 28, using a matchstick and paraffin to ignite the blaze. No clear motive for the attack has been made public as interrogations continue. At the service, hundreds of surviving Utumishi Girls Academy students joined together to sing a quiet, somber hymn that expressed hope amid overwhelming grief. One senior presiding official opened up about his own experience as a survivor of Kenya’s deadliest ever school fire, the 2001 Machakos County blaze that claimed 67 boys’ lives, drawing a direct line between past failures and the current tragedy.

    The service was also attended by Kenya’s First Lady Rachel Ruto, and the presiding bishop used his address to challenge national leaders, asking how many more young lives must be lost before urgent safety reforms are enacted. School captain Abigael Wanjiku delivered a heartfelt eulogy for her fallen schoolmates, remembering them as beloved friends, dedicated study partners, supportive teammates and constant companions. “The pain of losing them is one that we will carry for a long time,” Wanjiku told the gathered crowd.

    A mother speaking on behalf of all bereaved families broke down in tears mid-speech, repeating calls for full accountability and justice for the 16 victims while reassuring surviving students that securing their safety remains the community’s top priority.

    This latest tragedy is far from an isolated incident in Kenya. Data from the Kenya Red Cross shows the organization has responded to 37 separate school fires across the country since the start of 2024. Fires in Kenyan schools have become a disturbingly common occurrence: some are linked to student arson, often carried out as protest against strict disciplinary measures or upcoming high-stakes examinations, while others are accidental blazes sparked by faulty electrical wiring. Systemic failures have repeatedly amplified the death toll from these incidents: overcrowded dormitories, a lack of functioning emergency exits, and insufficient on-site firefighting equipment all contribute to higher loss of life and broader property damage when fires break out.

    In the wake of the Utumishi Girls Academy fire, Kenya’s Education Ministry has already suspended the school’s principal for failing to meet mandatory fire safety regulations. The ministry also took broader action earlier this year, shutting down more than 300 schools after a separate 2024 fire tragedy in central Kenya killed 21 boys, highlighting the scale of the ongoing national safety crisis.

  • David Hockney: contemporary master of brilliant, bold colours

    David Hockney: contemporary master of brilliant, bold colours

    The global art community is mourning the loss of one of the most influential contemporary artists of the last two centuries, British icon David Hockney, who passed away peacefully at his London home on Thursday, just one month shy of his 89th birthday. Hockney leaves behind a sprawling, decades-spanning body of work defined by its bold, electrifying color palettes that transformed everything from sun-drenched California pools to rolling English countryside into unforgettable cultural touchstones.

    Born to working-class parents in the northern English industrial town of Bradford in 1937, Hockney defied the rigid social conventions of post-WWII Britain from a young age. Openly embracing his identity as a gay man at a time when same-sex relations were criminalized and widely taboo across much of the Western world, he also committed himself early to a career in art, rejecting the expectations placed on working-class young men of his era. As a young adult, he served as a conscientious objector during military service, working as a hospital orderly before pursuing formal training first at the Bradford School of Art, then at London’s prestigious Royal College of Art starting in 1959.

    Even in his student years, Hockney’s work broke new ground. His 1950s piece *We Two Boys Together Clinging* made an unapologetic, public statement about same-sex attraction at a time when such themes were excluded from mainstream galleries. It was his abstract work *Doll Boy*, a subtle tribute to his crush on pop star Cliff Richard, that first caught the attention of influential London art dealer John Kasmin, who purchased the piece for just £40. Kasmin later recalled reaching out to the young, shy, cash-strapped student — then recognizable for his black crew cut and National Health Service glasses — to invite him for tea, and began selling small drawings for just £7 to £8 apiece to launch his career. Shortly after Hockney graduated from the Royal College with a gold medal, Kasmin hosted his first solo exhibition, which sold out entirely. Almost overnight, Hockney emerged as a defining cultural figure, famous for his signature bleached blond hair, round-rimmed glasses, and bold, playful personal style.

    In 1964, Hockney relocated to California, where he created the bright, sun-drenched, minimalist scenes that cemented his status as a leading figure in the global pop art movement. His 1967 masterpiece *A Bigger Splash*, which captures the split second after a diver disappears beneath the surface of a backyard swimming pool, remains one of the most iconic artworks of the 20th century. Over the following decades, his jet-set lifestyle took him across the globe, from the south of France to Morocco, New York, and London, and he painted intimate portraits of the designers, dancers, and artists that made up his wide social circle. By the end of the 1960s, the once shy art student had transformed into a global art star, moving in elite social circles while retaining the mischievous charm and occasional blunt combativeness that defined his personality.

    A relentless innovator across mediums, Hockney’s work extended far beyond canvas painting. He designed stage sets for theater and opera, experimented with printmaking, and reimagined photographic collage in the 1980s with his invention of “joiners” — assemblages of slightly offset snapshots that created a cubist-inspired patchwork effect, echoing the work of his lifelong artistic hero Pablo Picasso. Always an early adopter of new technology, he embraced tools from Polaroid cameras to video recorders, and in his 70s began creating art on an Apple iPad. Large-scale prints of his tablet-created works headlined his 2012 *A Bigger Picture* exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

    Later in his career, Hockney returned repeatedly to his Yorkshire roots to care for his mother, and over time he began painting the region’s rolling, bucolic landscapes, reinventing himself once again as a leading contemporary landscape artist. After relocating back to the UK from the United States, he fell in love with the lush, green landscapes of northern France — the same region that inspired impressionist master Claude Monet — and moved there, where he created one of his late-career bodies of work, *A Year in Normandy*. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Hockney framed his enforced isolation as an opportunity, throwing himself into painting the unfolding spring season in Normandy with his signature explosive palette of bright hues. He told AFP during a 2021 Paris exhibition of his Normandy work, “If you look at the world, it’s very beautiful.”

    In 2023, Hockney returned to London to escape constant unwanted attention from visitors in Normandy. Even as his health declined, leaving him frail and reliant on a wheelchair, he remained actively engaged in curating a major retrospective of his decades-long career, which opened in Paris in April 2025.

    Hockney’s place in art history was cemented in 2018, when his iconic work *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* sold at auction in New York for $90.3 million, breaking the record for the most expensive work sold by a living artist. His agent Erica Bolton remembered him this week as “one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries,” while London’s Tate Gallery once called him “perhaps the most popular and versatile British artist of the 20th century.” Throughout his life, he retained the broad Yorkshire accent of his upbringing, and never lost his lifelong fondness for simple pleasures: fish and chips, and cigarettes, once joking in a 2015 interview with The Guardian, “It used to be you couldn’t be gay. Now you can be gay but you can’t smoke. There’s always something.”

  • David Hockney, artist renowned for his pool scenes, has died at 88

    David Hockney, artist renowned for his pool scenes, has died at 88

    LONDON – Iconic 20th-century artist David Hockney, best known for his luminous paintings of sun-drenched California swimming pools that defined mid-century modern art, passed away Thursday at the age of 88, just weeks shy of his 89th birthday, his publicist Erica Bolton confirmed.

    Born in the industrial northern English city of Bradford in 1937, Hockney spent his formative years in the region’s textile manufacturing hub before earning a spot at London’s Royal College of Art. Even before graduating, his bold, distinctive style caught the attention of the art world, and leading dealer John Kasmin signed him to his roster in 1961. By his late 20s, Hockney had become a defining figure in the swinging art scenes of 1960s Britain and the United States, recognizable by his signature round glasses and bleached-blond hair.

    After first visiting the U.S. in 1963, Hockney fell in love with Southern California’s bright, clear light and settled there for much of his life, turning sun-baked suburban landscapes and shimmering swimming pools into his most iconic motifs. He once told the Los Angeles Times in 1979, “London has lots of dreary parts but I never find anything dreary in Los Angeles.” His signature works rendered dreamlike worlds of patterned light bouncing off water and glass, with simplified human forms rendered in matte acrylic that felt both fresh and timeless.

    As an openly gay artist working at a time when same-sex relationships were still criminalized across much of Britain, Hockney broke new ground by centering tender, celebratory depictions of gay intimacy in his work. Early pieces including *We Two Boys Together Clinging* and *Two Men in a Shower* normalized queer relationships at a time when they were rarely depicted in mainstream art, with friends and lovers often serving as his models.

    Drawing from a vast range of influences spanning Renaissance portraiture, J.M.W. Turner’s Romantic landscapes, Pablo Picasso’s cubist experiments, and 20th-century American pop art, Hockney developed a style that defied easy categorization. Though he incorporated pop art’s focus on everyday modern life — even including a British Typhoo Tea box label in his 1961 work *Tea Painting in an Illusionistic Style* — he long rejected being labeled a pop artist, telling the *New York Times* in 1964, “I’m just an ordinary artist,” while noting he always considered himself rooted in the English artistic tradition. He compared his move to chase California’s light to earlier generations of English artists who traveled to Italy for inspiration, drawing a throughline between historic artistic practice and his own modern work.

    Over a seven-decade career, Hockney never limited himself to a single medium. Beyond painting and drawing, he designed costumes and sets for opera and theater, including a celebrated 1987 production of *Tristan und Isolde* at the Los Angeles Opera. He pioneered the use of photo collage, assembling hundreds of individual snapshots into sprawling composite works like *Pearblossom Highway, 11-18th April, 1986*, which blurred the line between photography and painting. His insights from photographic experimentation even led him to publish the 2001 scholarly book *Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters*, which argued that Renaissance and Old Master artists had used optical tools and lenses to refine their work far more widely than art historians had previously acknowledged. Late in his career, he embraced digital technology, making the iPad his primary drawing tool, creating vibrant, spontaneous landscapes that reached new audiences.

    Later in life, Hockney returned to his European roots, drawing new inspiration from the rolling wooded hills of his native Yorkshire and the rural landscapes of Normandy, France, where he relocated in 2019. During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, he created a series of joyous iPad drawings of Normandy’s spring landscapes, paired with the hopeful message: “Do remember they can’t cancel the spring.” The phrase became a global rallying cry, and was featured prominently at a major retrospective of his work that opened at Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2025.

    Hockney’s work earned both critical acclaim and enormous commercial success, with his pieces selling for record-breaking prices at auction. In 2018, his 1972 masterpiece *Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)* sold at Christie’s for $90.3 million, at the time the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. Four years earlier, his 1966 pool painting *The Splash* fetched $30 million at Sotheby’s. Beyond auction houses, his work entered public life: he painted a permanent mural on the bottom of the swimming pool at Los Angeles’ historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and designed the Queen’s Window, a stained-glass window at Westminster Abbey honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s long reign, completed in 2018.

    Art world figures have long praised Hockney’s enduring ability to bring joy to audiences worldwide. Art historian Simon Schama wrote in an essay for the 2025 Paris retrospective, “His work is admired — loved is not too strong a word — by the millions who, worldwide, flock to see it because it presupposes an expectation of pleasure.” Curator Norman Rosenthal, who organized the 2025 exhibition, called Hockney “the Picasso of our times,” noting, “David Hockney is also an incredibly popular artist whose work changes how we see things.”

    Hockney often said his commitment to daily work was what kept him vital. After a minor stroke in 2012, and experiencing increasing hearing loss in later life — which he said actually improved his ability to perceive visual space — he continued creating every day. “It’s my work that keeps me young,” he told the *Sun* newspaper in 2017. “I’ve been a professional painter for 60 years. Sixty years of getting up every day and doing exactly what I want to do.” He also once told the Associated Press, “You are a rich man if you do the things you want to do” — a philosophy he embodied throughout his decades-long career.

  • US scholar with history of activism in Myanmar arrested in China on suspicion of espionage

    US scholar with history of activism in Myanmar arrested in China on suspicion of espionage

    In a development that adds new friction to already strained U.S.-China relations, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed Friday that an American scholar specializing in Myanmar studies and Chinese foreign policy has been taken into custody on suspicion of endangering national security through espionage activities.

    The detained academic, Min Zin, stands accused of coordinating spying operations that threaten China’s core national interests, ministry spokesperson Lin Jian confirmed in an official statement. This arrest is highly unusual; Beijing rarely publicly detains and charges U.S. citizens with national security violations, making the case a notable flashpoint just one month after a high-profile meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, a meeting billed as a step toward resetting the two countries’ turbulent diplomatic ties.

    Details of Min Zin’s disappearance first emerged from a Burmese activist familiar with the scholar, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation and arrest by Chinese authorities. The activist confirmed Min Zin vanished on June 3 shortly after arriving in Kunming, the capital of China’s southwest Yunnan Province, to attend an academic conference. This trip was not out of the ordinary for Min Zin, the source added, noting the scholar had made multiple prior visits to China without incident over the course of his research career.

    A former key figure in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, Min Zin first rose to prominence as a student organizer during the 1988 nationwide uprising against Myanmar’s military junta, which was violently crushed by state security forces. After the crackdown, Min Zin fled Myanmar and eventually was granted political asylum in the United States. Contrary to some early unconfirmed reports, the activist who spoke to reporters emphasized Min Zin has not engaged in direct on-the-ground political activism for years, focusing his work almost entirely on academic research and policy analysis.

    Today, Min Zin leads the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP Myanmar), an independent think tank he founded that produces regular research on cross-border trade and Chinese foreign policy toward Myanmar, which shares a long southwestern border with China. The think tank has maintained open, regular exchange programs with peer research institutions in China for years, and has published widely discussed analysis on topics ranging from rare earth mineral trade flows from Myanmar to China to infrastructure investment projects along the bilateral border. Beyond his think tank work, Min Zin is also a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the top U.S. academic programs for Southeast Asian studies.

    Global human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International has already issued an urgent public call for Chinese authorities to release Min Zin immediately, citing deep alarm over the circumstances of his detainment and the vague national security charges against him. “The opaque circumstances around Min Zin’s unexplained disappearance and subsequent arrest are deeply disturbing, and the espionage accusation against a respected academic is extremely concerning,” said Joe Freeman, a senior Myanmar researcher at Amnesty International.

    The arrest comes at a delicate moment for U.S.-China relations, even after the leaders’ meeting in Beijing last month. Both countries have been engaged in tit-for-tat detentions of foreign citizens on national security grounds in recent years, and incidents like this often escalate diplomatic friction at a time when the two powers are already at odds over trade, regional security, and human rights policy.

  • Iranian woman among migrants deported from the US to the Central African Republic

    Iranian woman among migrants deported from the US to the Central African Republic

    A deportation flight organized by the former Trump administration is set to land in the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui on Friday, carrying roughly two dozen migrants from third countries, including one Iranian woman who had previously been granted protection from deportation to her home nation, legal representatives confirmed.

    This transfer marks the latest high-profile example of the controversial, largely secretive agreements Washington struck with multiple African and Latin American nations to accept deportees who are not citizens of their receiving countries, a policy that has drawn widespread condemnation from immigration advocates and legal experts.

    According to immigration rights advocates, the Central African Republic — a chronically impoverished, conflict-battered nation — is one of at least 10 African countries that have signed onto these third-country deportation arrangements. As part of a broader hardline U.S. immigration crackdown during the Trump administration, officials struck these often-unpublic deals to expel thousands of non-citizen migrants to countries that are not their country of origin, across roughly 24 nations total.

    Immigration lawyers argue the policy is a deliberate legal loophole, designed to indirectly force asylum seekers who would otherwise be protected from return to their home countries into dangerous third-party states, effectively circumventing court-ordered deportation protections.

    The flight departed Louisiana late Thursday bound for Bangui, though exact passenger numbers have not been officially confirmed. Ali Rahnama, president of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, who has been in direct contact with several of the detained migrants, confirmed the group includes nationals from Iran, Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Afghanistan.

    Sahar Jalili Pawelski, an immigration lawyer representing three Iranian women initially slated for deportation on this flight, explained that two of her three clients secured emergency court orders that temporarily paused their removal, while judges review whether the U.S. government’s deportation action is legally valid. All three Iranian women had previously received court-ordered protection from deportation to Iran, after judges ruled they faced credible threats of persecution based on their political beliefs or religious identity, both Pawelski and Rahnama confirmed. Only one Iranian woman remains on the flight scheduled to land Friday.

    An elderly Syrian migrant also scheduled for deportation to the Central African Republic similarly obtained an emergency temporary order halting his removal, according to his attorney Margaret Stock.

    U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials declined to comment on the specific case Thursday, citing security policies that prevent confirmation of upcoming removal operations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the deportation flight.

    The receiving country, the Central African Republic, has been ravaged by years of armed conflict between government forces and rebel factions, and ranks among the poorest countries on Earth. Despite holding extensive gold reserves, one in three Central African citizens survives on less than $2 USD per day. The nation is also a historic hub of activity for the Russian private mercenary group Wagner, which for years provided security to President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and led combat operations against rebel groups.

    While the Central African Republic remains one of Russia’s closest African allies, recent tensions have emerged between Touadéra and Moscow, after Russia demanded Wagner be replaced by the state-run Africa Corps. Rahnama has raised particular alarm over the deportation of the Iranian asylum seeker to the Central African Republic, pointing to Russia’s widespread influence in the country and the close security partnership between Moscow and Tehran, which puts the migrant at heightened risk of harm.

    This report was compiled by correspondent Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal, with additional contribution from Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana based in Washington.

  • ‘I will come home safely’: Indian sailor’s last words to wife before a US strike killed him

    ‘I will come home safely’: Indian sailor’s last words to wife before a US strike killed him

    # Three Indian Sailors Killed In U.S. Gulf Of Oman Strike Leave Grieving Families Waiting For Answers

    For Patnala Bhargavi, what should have been a month of quiet celebration to mark 15 years of marriage has instead become a period of overwhelming grief. Her husband, 15-year veteran marine engineer Patnala Suresh, was one of three Indian crew members killed this week when the United States military struck the oil tanker MT Settebello in waters near the Gulf of Oman.

    The U.S. operation was framed as part of Washington’s ongoing enforcement of a blockade against Iran-linked maritime activity. U.S. Central Command confirmed the strike, stating that the tanker ignored multiple official warnings and was found to be carrying Iranian oil. This narrative has been forcefully rejected by the MT Settebello’s management, which says the vessel had no ties to Iran and received no advance warning before the attack. Twenty-one of the 24 crew members on board were rescued alive after the strike.

    Across India, the deaths of the three sailors have sent shockwaves through coastal and inland communities alike, where seafarers often take on dangerous overseas jobs to support their extended families back home. Beyond private grief, loved ones are united in their demands: a full accounting of the strike that killed their family members, and the swift repatriation of the sailors’ remains for funeral rites.

    India’s federal government has already moved to respond to the incident. Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal confirmed in a post on the social platform X that work is underway to coordinate the return of the sailors’ bodies, calling the deaths a “profound loss” for India’s large maritime workforce. New Delhi has also taken formal diplomatic action: it summoned a senior U.S. diplomatic official to lodge a strong official protest, and called for an immediate end to strikes targeting commercial shipping vessels in the already tense Gulf region.

    But for the families grappling with sudden loss, the details of geopolitical maneuvering feel distant and abstract. Their pain is rooted in broken promises and unfulfilled plans.

    Bhargavi still holds onto the last words her husband shared with her before contact was lost. “There have been attacks in this area and some people have been killed,” Suresh told her, “But don’t worry about me. I’ll come home safely, and we’ll celebrate our anniversary properly.”

    Now, surrounded by photos of Suresh, the couple’s two young sons, and the two nieces Suresh helped raise after Bhargavi’s older sister and brother-in-law passed away, the 39-year-old widow struggles to reconcile that promise with the new reality of life without her husband, who was the family’s only source of income.

    Suresh had built a 15-year career at sea, working his way up to chief engineer, a role that entitled him to six months of paid leave annually. His father Ramakrishna says Suresh rarely took the full time off, drawn to his work and committed to providing for his family. For years, the family adapted to his long absences: Bhargavi and Suresh spoke every few days over video call, often with other crew members popping in to say hello. But starting June 5, calls became patchy, and stopped entirely by June 9.

    Bhargavi initially assumed the issue was just spotty maritime connectivity. But after two days of silence, news of the strike reached her family. At first, they clung to hope that there had been a mistake, and that Suresh would turn up alive among the rescued crew. That hope faded quickly; on Thursday, the tanker’s management confirmed Suresh was killed instantly when the strike hit, as he was conducting a routine inspection of a faulty generator in the engine room. Centcom, the U.S. military command for the region, has released footage it claims shows the damage to the tanker’s engine room from the strike.

    The family is now calling on the Indian government to provide urgent financial support to help them raise and educate the four children who depended entirely on Suresh’s income. “The entire family depended on his income. Now I don’t know how I’ll educate or raise the children,” Bhargavi says.

    The same unanswered questions and raw grief hang over the families of the other two killed sailors, hundreds of kilometers from Visakhapatnam. In India’s northern Himachal Pradesh state, Hamirpur district, the family of 23-year-old Aditya Sharma, an only son, is demanding answers of their own.

    “I want my son’s body to be returned to us. We should also be told what happened in his final moments,” Aditya’s father Rajesh Sharma told BBC Hindi. Rajesh Sharma also questioned the outcome of the rescue operation: “The others were rescued, so why couldn’t these three be saved?”

    More than 1,000 kilometers away, in Deoria district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 35-year-old Shivanand Chaurasia’s family is dealing with the same sudden loss. A skilled fitter, Chaurasia had left home eight months earlier to take up a contract with a foreign shipping firm. “We spoke to him the night before last. He told us everything was fine,” his father Ramji Chaurasia told Indian news agency ANI. “Now we have been told that he is no more.”

    Like Bhargavi, both families say their only priority right now is bringing their loved ones home for a proper burial. The geopolitical tensions that led to the strike are irrelevant to them; what matters is getting to see their sons, husbands and providers one last time, and getting clarity on how they died.

  • Watch: Three things to know about SpaceX’s stock market debut

    Watch: Three things to know about SpaceX’s stock market debut

    SpaceX, the Elon Musk-founded aerospace and space exploration giant, is on the cusp of one of the most anticipated initial public offerings in recent market history. The BBC’s global business correspondent Samira Hussain has broken down the most critical details that investors and industry observers need to understand ahead of this landmark market entry. This IPO is far more than just another corporate listing: it represents a coming-of-age moment for the commercial space industry, which has evolved from a niche government-dependent sector to a multi-billion dollar private market attracting widespread investor interest. Hussain’s breakdown clarifies three core areas that shape expectations for the offering: the company’s unique market position, the risks and opportunities facing potential shareholders, and what the debut signals for the future of private space innovation. As one of the most valuable private startups in the world, SpaceX’s transition to a publicly traded company has been years in the making, with its existing portfolio of revolutionary projects — from satellite internet through Starlink to NASA crewed missions to the International Space Station — already redefining what private companies can achieve in low Earth orbit and beyond. Hussain’s explanatory analysis cuts through the hype surrounding the IPO, giving audiences a clear, accessible breakdown of the factors that will define the success of this historic stock market debut.

  • Sardinian beach bans umbrellas for 10 to 65-year-olds

    Sardinian beach bans umbrellas for 10 to 65-year-olds

    Nestled along the sun-drenched southeastern coast of Sardinia, one of Italy’s most beloved Mediterranean islands, Punta Molentis Beach has long been celebrated as a hidden gem — a quiet, ecologically rich stretch of sand framed by delicate coastal dunes and crystalline Tyrrhenian Sea waters. But just under a year after a devastating wildfire tore through the area, incinerating the beach car park, damaging fragile dune ecosystems and forcing hundreds of sun-seekers to escape by boat, local authorities have implemented sweeping new access restrictions designed to prevent further environmental harm and support the area’s recovery.

    The disaster, which unfolded in late July 2025, saw flames advance all the way to the shoreline, with thick black smoke pouring out over the open sea. Dozens of vehicles parked in the beach’s main car park were completely destroyed by the blaze, leaving local officials scrambling to address the severe damage done to Punta Molentis’ already fragile ecosystem.

    In the wake of the fire, the municipal government of Villasimius, the local town that administers the beach, approved the new set of regulations that will remain in force through October 31. The most notable change is a hard cap on daily visitor numbers: no more than 150 people will be allowed on the beach at any one time, and vehicle access is limited to just 70 cars per day. All visitors must make advance reservations to enter, and entry fees have also been introduced: travelers arriving by land will pay €10 (approximately £8.60) per person, while those coming by private watercraft will be charged €5 per person.

    Arguably the most controversial new rule is a near-total ban on personal parasols and beach umbrellas. The restriction carves out exceptions for only two groups: visitors aged 65 and older, and families traveling with children under the age of 10.

    Local officials have defended the measures, framing them as a necessary step to protect the irreplaceable coastal environment. “The ecosystem of Punta Molentis is one of the most valuable in our territory but also one of the most fragile,” the official municipal notice reads. The policy statement adds that limiting human activity is critical to safeguarding the natural heritage site for future generations to enjoy. This crackdown on overcrowding is not an isolated move for Sardinia, whose iconic postcard-perfect beaches have struggled with unsustainable tourism volumes for years; a growing number of popular coastal spots across the island have introduced similar access limits this summer.

    Despite the official justification, the new rules have sparked pushback from both locals and frequent visitors. Critics have taken to social media to question the fairness and practicality of the umbrella restriction, with one local resident commenting on the Villasimius municipal government’s official social media page that visitors may soon have to “rent” a child or senior citizen to gain access to basic sun protection. Other critics argue that the restrictions do not go far enough, claiming that the only way to allow the fire-damaged ecosystem to fully recover is to close the beach to all visitors for multiple years, rather than just implementing incremental limits.

    As one of Sardinia’s most sought-after summer travel destinations, Punta Molentis’ new rules highlight a growing tension across popular European coastal destinations: balancing the economic benefits of mass tourism with the urgent need to protect vulnerable natural environments that draw visitors in the first place.

  • Dzeko’s last dance could be Bosnia’s new beginning

    Dzeko’s last dance could be Bosnia’s new beginning

    For 40-year-old football legend Edin Dzeko, a career brimming with silverware—including two Premier League titles won with Manchester City, plus honours earned across stints with Inter Milan and Wolfsburg—may end up being remembered most for a quiet, iconic moment of grit: immediately after Bosnia-Herzegovina knocked Italy out on penalties to secure only the second World Cup qualification in the nation’s history, Dzeko celebrated gently, his arm strapped in a sling from injury.

    That image, observers say, encapsulates everything Dzeko has stood for across nearly two decades carrying the hopes of a nation still healing from the devastating scars of the 1990s Bosnian War. “His career is connected to the country’s own image—resilience, persistence and proving people wrong,” explains Bosnian journalist Sasa Ibrulj. Drawn into an even 2026 World Cup group alongside Canada, Switzerland and Qatar, Dzeko’s final tournament as a player is poised to open an exciting new chapter for Bosnian football.

    Dzeko’s own story of survival begins amid the chaos of war. When the Bosnian War broke out in 1992, he was just six years old. Around 80,000 Bosnian Muslims lost their lives in the conflict, and the Srebrenica Genocide—perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces—stands as the worst mass killing in Europe since the Holocaust. Dzeko’s family stayed in Sarajevo through the nearly four-year siege, where Serbian snipers targeted civilian residents including children. After their family home was destroyed, Dzeko moved in with his grandparents, cramming 15 family members into a 35-square-meter apartment. “It was very hard. We were stressed every day in case somebody we knew died,” Dzeko recalled in a past interview with The Guardian. As a young boy, he often played football on a local pitch—one day his mother forced him to stay home, a decision that saved his life: a shell struck the pitch that same day, killing several children playing there.

    After the war ended, Dzeko launched his professional career at local Sarajevo club Zeljeznicar, where he was underestimated early on. His lanky frame earned him the local nickname “Kloc”, meaning “lamp-post”, and club executives jumped at the chance to sell him to Czech side Teplice for just €25,000. What followed was a historic top-flight career: Dzeko became the first player in history to score at least 50 goals in the Premier League, Bundesliga, and Serie A. Even as he rose to global superstardom, he never turned his back on his roots. He has donated repeatedly to fund renovations at Zeljeznicar, and became Bosnia’s first UNICEF ambassador in 2009. “People remember that he did not come from privilege or from a powerful football system,” Ibrulj says. “What makes him different is that people in Bosnia have never experienced him as distant or untouchable.” Mirza Trbonja, a close friend of Dzeko’s, told AFP that the star never turns down autographs or photos: “When he comes, you need a lasso to catch 10 minutes with him. When someone asks him for a photo or autograph, he never refuses.”

    Dzeko made his senior international debut in 2007, and today holds Bosnia’s all-time records for caps (148) and goals (73). After devastating play-off defeats to Portugal for the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, Dzeko led Bosnia to qualification for their first major international tournament as an independent nation, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. That tournament marked the high point for Bosnia’s “golden generation”, with more play-off heartbreak following for Euro 2016, 2020, and 2024. Twelve years after that first historic qualification, Bosnia finally exorcised their play-off demons: after overturning deficits against both Wales and Italy to win both knockout ties on penalties, the nation secured its return to the world’s biggest football stage.

    Ibrulj notes that the 2026 qualification carries even more emotional weight than the 2014 breakthrough. “2014 felt historic because it was the first generation that truly gave Bosnia international sporting legitimacy after independence,” he says. “This second qualification feels even heavier emotionally. Bosnia spent more than a decade failing to return, and over those years there was disappointment, pessimism, and a growing feeling that the country had missed its moment. For many younger supporters, this is the first team that feels like their team in the same way older generations emotionally belonged to the side of Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Emir Spahic.”

    For Bosnian musician Alen Dokic, who released an official 2026 World Cup song under his alias Doppelganger, the qualification is a perfect example of “Bosanski Inat” — a deeply rooted cultural spirit of defiance and overcoming hardship. “Never forget, never forgive – this is one of the mottos that reminds us who we are, what we have been through, and how resilient we Bosnians are,” Dokic says. Dokic, born in Rome to Bosnian parents, is part of a global Bosnian diaspora that numbers as many as two million people, a connection that is reflected in head coach Sergej Barbarez’s 2026 World Cup squad: 17 of the 26 squad members were born outside of Bosnia-Herzegovina, raised across the globe but united by their choice to represent their ancestral nation.

    “It’s a unique dynamic of players growing up all over the world but coming back to represent Bosnia,” says former Bosnia goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. One shining example is 21-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic, who scored the decisive penalty against Italy that booked Bosnia’s spot at the tournament. Bajraktarevic was born and raised in Wisconsin, after his parents fled the Srebrenica genocide. “That common interest, common goal, the passion of representing Bosnia plays a big role. What the country has been through, there’s still lingering effects from the conflict and the past. When everyone comes together in Bosnia, it’s a pretty unique feeling and really special. For a country so small to compete at this stage is a really big thing,” he says.

    In the hours after the play-off win over Italy, thousands of Bosnian fans flooded the streets of Sarajevo, celebrating long into dawn. Ibrulj explains that these moments of shared national joy carry unique weight for a country still fractured by political division, economic instability, and the unhealed shadow of war. Even with limited investment in sporting infrastructure for a population of just three million, the future of Bosnia’s national team looks bright — and it feels only fitting that Dzeko, the man who has been a constant through decades of change, will captain the side as they enter this new era.

    “In a country where people often struggle to trust institutions, figures like that become larger than sport itself. For younger players he became a constant. Coaches changed, federations changed, generations came and went, but Dzeko remained there,” Ibrulj says. When a video of Italian players reportedly celebrating getting to face Bosnia instead of Wales in the play-off final went viral before the decider, Dzeko once again showed the quiet leadership that has defined his career: he urged Bosnian fans to respect the Italian national anthem ahead of kickoff, reminding supporters that Italy was the first national team to visit Bosnia after the war.

    “He is someone who has big pressure and expectation on him. He galvanises everybody. When I played with him he certainly wasn’t the most vocal of leaders but he definitely led by example and I think a lot of people fed off that,” Begovic says. Far from being at the tournament to simply make up the numbers, Dzeko has already proven he still has a critical role to play: he scored a late equaliser against Wales to force the penalty shootout, then set up Bosnia’s equaliser against Italy to send that tie to penalties as well. The 40-year-old says even he never expected to still be playing at the top level at his age: “I didn’t think I would be playing at 40 – 10 years ago I would’ve said ‘no’, but I’m listening to my body and doing a lot of work before and after training to help my body. I am so happy I can do it [go to the World Cup]. It is so amazing for the young players. They don’t know it yet, but it will change their lives for sure.”

    Bosnia’s 2026 World Cup campaign kicks off this Friday against co-hosts Canada, kicking off what is already the most emotional chapter in the nation’s modern football history.