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A deadly wave of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting two logistics warehouses belonging to Russia’s largest e-commerce giant Wildberries has left eight people dead and 62 others injured, Russian regional officials confirmed this week, marking one of the most high-profile cross-border strikes on Russian commercial infrastructure in months.

The deadliest incident unfolded in Tambov, a city located roughly 475 kilometers southeast of Moscow, where a nighttime drone strike killed seven workers on the night shift and left 25 people injured, seven of whom remain in critical condition. Evgeniy Pervyshov, governor of the Tambov region, wrote on Telegram that the attack was the “largest and most inhumane” strike the region has faced since the start of the full-scale invasion, noting that 28 incoming drones were intercepted and shot down before the strike. Most of the injuries reported were shrapnel wounds from the blast, he added.

A second strike hit another Wildberries warehouse in Elektrostal, a city in the Moscow Oblast, killing one more person and injuring 37, eight of whom are in serious condition. Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov added that 48 drones were shot down across the region overnight, and a separate falling drone debris hit a local Russian oil depot, causing what he called the incident with the “most serious consequences” of the overnight attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed that Ukrainian forces had struck an oil facility alongside the logistics targets.

Unverified footage circulating from the strike sites shows massive flames engulfing the large industrial warehouse buildings, with thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky over the facilities. Dozens of workers can be seen fleeing the burning structures to gather in adjacent parking lots, as emergency response teams including firefighters and local emergency services raced to contain the blaze and treat casualties. As of Thursday, response operations were still ongoing at both strike locations, with officials yet to release full details of structural damage to the facilities.

In comments following the attacks, Zelensky framed the strikes as a targeted operation against Russian military supply chains, saying the hit facilities were “major logistics facilities” that had been used to store and move “sanctioned components for drone production and navigation equipment” for the Russian military. He added that the strikes were part of a broader set of operations that also hit military and infrastructure targets in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea, and Russian-annexed Crimea. Zelensky emphasized the attacks were a direct retaliation for recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which killed 14 people across Ukraine overnight Tuesday.

Wildberries, often described as the Russian equivalent of Amazon, is the country’s dominant online retail platform. In 2026, the combined RWB Group — which merged Wildberries with domestic advertising firm Russ — was valued at roughly $12.6 billion by Forbes Russia. In a statement following the strikes, Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim called the incident a “terrible night” for both Russia and the company.

The attack comes as Ukraine has significantly intensified its long-range drone campaign targeting Russian critical infrastructure over the past month, particularly focusing on the country’s energy and refining sector. Ukrainian officials claimed earlier this July that nearly 43% of Russia’s total oil refining capacity has been disabled as a result of these repeated strikes, a figure that the BBC has not been able to independently verify. Ukraine justifies targeting Russian energy facilities by noting that fossil fuel exports are the largest source of revenue for the Russian government, which relies on those funds to finance its full-scale invasion that launched in February 2022.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare public acknowledgment that Ukrainian strikes had caused widespread domestic fuel shortages across Russia. In early July, he signed into law emergency legislation designed to boost domestic fuel supplies by restricting exports and increasing domestic production. Prior to the Wildberries strikes, the ongoing drone campaign had already created significant disruptions to Russian fuel distribution networks and driven up domestic fuel prices in many regions.

One hundred years after its construction to honor colonial Muslim soldiers who fought and died for France in World War I, the Grand Mosque of Paris is celebrating its centenary, even as worshippers and leaders grapple with rising religious tensions and growing far-right rhetoric ahead of the country’s 2025 presidential election. Nestled in the heart of Paris’ bustling Latin Quarter, the mosque has grown far beyond a place of worship over the past century, evolving into an integral landmark of the French capital that draws worshippers and tourists from across the globe.

Designed with architectural inspiration from Spain’s Alhambra palace, the 33-meter minaret of the mosque stands overlooking the Seine River, complementing the silhouette of nearby Notre Dame Cathedral without overshadowing the iconic landmark. Its ornate, carpeted prayer room is listed as a top must-see attraction on Paris City Hall’s official tourism portal, and the site also hosts a popular traditional tea room and public hammam steam bath that attract both local Parisians and international visitors. For the Muslim community that gathers here weekly, however, the mosque’s meaning is rooted in a century-old promise of inclusion.

When French authorities approved and inaugurated the mosque in 1926, the project was framed as a tribute to the estimated 100,000 Muslim soldiers from French colonial territories across Africa and beyond who died defending France in the trenches of World War I, from Verdun to the Western Front. Then-French President Gaston Doumergue emphasized in his opening address that France’s cultural and religious diversity would only strengthen the national community, a message that current rector Chems-eddine Hafiz says remains just as relevant today.

Hafiz, who has led the mosque for years, frames the historic site as a enduring symbol of interfaith dialogue and the richness of France’s pluralistic society. But he has raised urgent alarms over escalating religious divisions in the country, stoked by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and the increasingly polarizing rhetoric of the upcoming presidential election campaign. “It’s the responsibility of everyone to see Muslims as a part of the national community,” Hafiz told the Associated Press in an interview ahead of the centenary celebrations.

Today, Islam is the second largest religion in France, which is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim population. But decades of stigma, amplified by deadly Islamic extremist attacks across the country over the past 15 years, have left many French Muslims facing systemic discrimination and social exclusion. As campaigning for the 2025 presidential election ramps up, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party have centered their platform on targeting Islam and restricting immigration, amplifying anti-Muslim rhetoric across national political discourse.

Fatma Chouchane, a volunteer at the Grand Mosque, spoke to the AP about the daily barriers many Muslim women face across France, including legal restrictions on wearing traditional Muslim headscarves in public schools and certain workplaces. “I ask France to leave these people alone and let them make their religious choices,” she said. Despite these challenges, Chouchane joined other worshippers in framing the centenary as an occasion to reaffirm messages of tolerance and solidarity. “It’s a symbol, it is the Paris museum for Muslims,” she said. “We must all be in solidarity.”

For centenary prayers held Friday, worshippers traveled from across the greater Paris region, representing generations of Muslim communities in France: some born in the country, others who migrated over decades from Algeria, Senegal and other former French colonies, with many tracing their family roots to the very colonial soldiers the mosque was built to honor. For Ibrahima Seye, who first visited the mosque shortly after moving to France from Senegal, it has long served as a welcoming home for new arrivals and a point of pride for the entire community. “It’s always open,” he said. “It’s good for the Muslim community, and I see that it is a mosque that is appreciated by a lot of tourists, too.”

Hafiz emphasized that the core political promise of the mosque, as a testament to Muslim contributions to French national life, has not wavered since its opening 100 years ago. “The problem lies in people’s attitudes,” he said. “Today, anti-Muslim acts are still being committed against Muslims. Islam is often misunderstood, and talking about Muslims or Islam can trigger hostility.” As the mosque marks its 100th year, community leaders say its centenary is not just a moment to celebrate history, but to reaffirm the founding vision of a diverse, inclusive France where all religious communities belong.

In a significant escalation of Ukraine’s long-range aerial offensive against targets inside Russian territory, seven people were killed and 51 more injured in a wave of overnight drone attacks, Russian regional and federal officials confirmed Saturday. The strikes mark a continued push by Kyiv to bring the costs of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, home to Russian civilians and disrupt Moscow’s military supply chains.

Multiple sites across central and western Russia were targeted, including two large storage warehouses operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer. One warehouse was located in Kotovsk, a town in the Tambov region roughly 360 kilometers (220 miles) north of the Ukraine-Russia border, while the second sat in Elektrostal, an industrial city just 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the Russian capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strikes in a social media post on Telegram Saturday, noting the two targeted logistics hubs were being used by Russian forces to source sanctioned electronic components for Russian drone manufacturing and navigation systems. He added that an oil processing and storage facility was also hit in the coordinated attacks, alongside additional strikes against Russian military targets in the Sea of Azov and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Casualty reports released by regional officials confirm all seven fatalities were night shift workers at the Kotovsk Wildberries facility, where 25 additional people were wounded. In Elektrostal, 24 people were injured in the strike on the second warehouse, according to Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov. A separate drone attack on an oil depot in Noginsk, a city north of Elektrostal, sparked a large fire that forced precautionary evacuations of a nearby maternity hospital and one adjacent residential building, with two additional people wounded in that incident.

Further east in Vladimir, a city 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of Moscow, a drone struck a residential apartment building causing a small fire, with no reported casualties, regional governor Alexander Avdeyev confirmed.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported in a statement Saturday that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 379 Ukrainian drones overnight across 19 Russian regions, as well as over the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea. Kyiv’s ongoing aerial campaign targets both energy infrastructure and military-linked logistics assets across Russia, part of a strategy to erode Moscow’s ability to sustain its full-scale invasion by forcing Russian society to confront the ongoing conflict directly.

A devastating large-scale wildfire has torn through the Norwegian city of Drammen, leaving a trail of destruction that has forced residents to flee and destroyed more than 100 residential properties, local emergency authorities confirmed this week. The fast-moving blaze, which ignited in a built-up area of the city, quickly outpaced initial ground containment efforts and spread into adjacent forested land, creating a dual threat to both communities and local ecosystems.

In response to the rapidly growing emergency, regional disaster management agencies deployed a fleet of helicopters to mount an aggressive aerial assault on the fire, dumping thousands of liters of water over hot spots in an effort to slow the fire’s advance and protect remaining unburned structures.

Emergency crews have not yet released information on any reported casualties, but local officials have activated evacuations for multiple neighborhoods in the fire’s path, opening emergency shelters to accommodate displaced residents. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, with authorities yet to announce a confirmed timeline for when the fire is expected to be fully contained. The disaster has already upended the lives of hundreds of people in the Drammen area, marking one of the most destructive urban-adjacent wildfires to hit southern Norway in recent years.

For thousands of years, the snow-dusted peaks of Mount Olympus – the fabled ancestral home of the 12 Olympian gods of ancient Greek mythology – have captivated human imagination across the globe. Towering 2,918 meters above sea level, with its highest jagged, mist-enveloped peak long believed by ancient Greeks to hold the throne of Zeus, king of the gods, the mountain is now on the cusp of a global recognition that could cement its cross-cultural legacy for generations.

This month, Greece’s highest peak is up for consideration as a mixed natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the World Heritage Committee set to deliberate the nomination during its annual session running from July 16 to 29 in Busan, South Korea. For local communities that have built their lives around the mountain, the designation is far more than an honor – it is recognition of Olympus’ unmatched blend of mythic history, cultural continuity, extraordinary biodiversity, and stunning natural beauty.

“Olympus is our life. It is the place we grew up in,” shared Evagelos Geroliolios, mayor of the Dion-Olympus municipality that is centered in Litochoro, the main gateway town to the mountain. “It is the place we see every day, but at the same time, it carries with it myth, history, biodiversity, extraordinary beauty and a very great cultural weight.”

Few locations hold as central a place in Western cultural mythology as Mount Olympus. Legend holds that after Zeus waged a 10-year war to overthrow his father Cronus and end the reign of the Titans, he established his divine court on the mountain’s highest peaks. This year, public interest in Olympus is also getting a major pop culture boost: Christopher Nolan’s new big-screen adaptation of Homer’s *The Odyssey*, which frames the mountain as the seat of Zeus and the Olympian gods that shape Odysseus’ legendary journey, hit theaters this week.

Archaeological excavations on one of Olympus’ lower slopes have already uncovered an open-air sanctuary, with the earliest artifacts dating back to the Hellenistic period (323 BCE to 30 BCE). Greece’s UNESCO nomination file notes the sanctuary is widely believed to be the same site referenced by 2nd-century philosopher and historian Plutarch, who recorded regular religious processions to the peak to carry out animal sacrifices to Zeus. The mountain’s religious significance persisted through the Christian era: a chapel dedicated to the Prophet Elias sits at 2,803 meters, making it the highest-altitude Orthodox Christian chapel in the world. Near the mountain’s Enipeas Gorge, the ruins of a 16th-century monastery remain standing, just a short walk from the Holy Cave of St. Dionysios, a cliffside chapel fed by a small spring whose waters are considered holy by Orthodox believers.

Beyond its deep cultural roots, Olympus’ slopes, which descend almost directly to the Aegean Sea, support an extraordinary wealth of plant and animal life, including multiple species found nowhere else on Earth. It is this rare combination of tangible cultural heritage, millennia of mythic meaning, unique ecosystems, and dramatic natural landscapes that local leaders hope will convince the committee to approve the designation.

“It is a place we love. It is a place that many people from all over the world visit to see, to live, to experience. We want to protect it,” Geroliolios said. A UNESCO listing, he added, would carry global significance that extends far beyond Greece’s borders. “It is something that concerns the entire world. It is very important.”

Despite widespread local support, Olympus’ path to World Heritage status is not guaranteed. Greece first launched the nomination process back in 2014, when it added the mountain to UNESCO’s Tentative List – the required first step for any prospective site, where properties remain eligible for formal nomination over a 5 to 10 year window. After a preliminary assessment and the submission of a full nomination dossier, the proposal underwent a 14-month evaluation by advisory bodies including the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Final votes are cast by representatives of 21 member states on the World Heritage Committee during the annual session. Preliminary meeting agenda documents indicate the committee is poised to refer the nomination back to Greek authorities to request additional technical information, leaving the final outcome uncertain for now.

Still, local stakeholders hold out hope that approval will bring stronger, more coordinated protections for the mountain’s fragile ecosystem – a priority that has grown more urgent as visitor numbers have surged in recent years. Babis Marinidis, a veteran mountain guide and president of the Alpine Club of Litochoro, explained that while a UNESCO listing would likely draw even more tourists, the mountain’s ecosystem already has a limited carrying capacity.

“How many people can this mountain, this ecosystem, bear?” he asked. Though much of Olympus was designated a national park decades ago with formal conservation rules in place, Marinidis said regulations against unauthorized camping, swimming in protected watersheds, and off-trail hiking are regularly ignored by visitors. As crowds have grown, local authorities have begun considering mandatory visitor registration and entrance fees to manage foot traffic – a measure Marinidis once opposed but now supports. “But now with so many people, I believe some limit must be imposed,” he said.

As a world-renowned mountaineering and hiking destination, Olympus draws thousands of adventurers annually from across the globe. While reaching the summit does not require advanced technical climbing skills, the mountain’s rapidly shifting weather and uneven, treacherous terrain make it a serious challenge that has claimed dozens of lives over the years. Just this month, a 64-year-old Greek hiker died after collapsing on a hiking trail, and in May, rescue teams recovered the body of a 25-year-old Spanish hiker who went missing while attempting a winter summit attempt.

First-time visitor Triantafyllos Giannospyros, 32, noted that while proper preparation and caution are non-negotiable, the mountain is accessible for careful hikers. “You need to be careful, and safety measures must always be kept in mind,” he said. “But with care and with good organization, it isn’t something you should be afraid of.”

Stavroula Vourou, a Litochoro hotel owner whose business caters to hikers setting off for the peak, echoed that respect for the mountain. “Everyone sets off to go up and conquer a mountain that needs respect,” she said. “You respect this mountain, it respects you too.”