分类： world

One of France’s most high-profile missing person cases has taken a dramatic new turn, after a man convicted of murdering his wife despite never having her body recovered has privately confessed to the killing from behind bars.

Thirty-eight-year-old Cédric Jubillar, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2020 murder of his 33-year-old spouse Delphine Jubillar, disclosed his guilt in a confidential letter sent to his legal team. The revelation comes nearly 18 months after a mixed jury of six civilians and three judicial magistrates found sufficient circumstantial evidence to uphold a guilty murder verdict, and just two months before his scheduled appeal hearing was set to begin.

According to Jubillar’s current lead attorney Pierre Debuisson, who took over the case after the original trial, the convicted killer first revealed the truth in a private meeting several weeks ago. Debuisson told reporters at a press conference held Monday that Jubillar stated simply: “I need to tell you the truth. It was me.”

The confession confirms that Jubillar killed Delphine during a heated argument at the couple’s family home in the southern French town of Cagnac-les-Mines in December 2020, and that he drove his vehicle to move her body to an undisclosed location after the killing. The convicted man has also agreed to guide investigators to the site where he disposed of her remains, a development that will bring long-awaited closure to a case that gripped French public attention for nearly four years.

The case first emerged in the early hours of December 16, 2020, at the height of France’s national Covid-19 lockdown, when Jubillar contacted local police at 4 a.m. local time to report his wife missing. Delphine, a night nurse working at a nearby clinic, left behind two young children aged six and 18 months at the time of her disappearance.

Investigations quickly revealed that the couple’s marriage was deeply unstable. Court documents showed Cédric Jubillar struggled with daily cannabis use and irregular employment, while Delphine had started an extramarital relationship with a man she met online and had begun discussing divorce proceedings with her husband.

Over the following years, law enforcement teams and local volunteers carried out exhaustive searches across the surrounding rural countryside, including specialized cave diving teams that explored dozens of abandoned mine shafts that dot the Tarn department landscape. Despite the extensive search operation, Delphine’s remains were never located, and the case relied entirely on circumstantial evidence to secure a conviction in 2023.

Throughout the original trial, Jubillar maintained his complete innocence, a position he held until his recent confession. His legal team confirmed that the admission of guilt will almost certainly lead to a postponement of the upcoming appeal, which was scheduled to start in two months.

For Delphine Jubillar’s two children, who are represented by attorney Malika Chmani, the confession marks a long-awaited breakthrough. “We are relieved for the children. Now he needs to tell us where the body is. I think that is what is going to happen now. I hope so,” Chmani told reporters Monday.

A massive wildfire raging in southern France has forced major last-minute changes to the 2025 Tour de France, becoming the most high-profile disruption of a summer season defined by record heat and spreading wildfires across southern Europe. The world’s most prestigious cycling race, which had completed its opening two legs in Spain, crossed the border into France on Monday for the third stage, a mountain route ending in the Pyrenees town of Les Angles. The blaze sits just 37 miles from the stage finish line, having already scorched more than 4,500 acres of vegetation and land.

Tour de France organizers announced sweeping restrictions to the route for the final 25 miles of the stage, after local authorities confirmed that containing the wildfire required the full mobilization of firefighting crews, security forces and government resources. “The top priority remains the protection of people, property, and natural areas, as well as bringing the fire under control,” local authorities said in a statement.

Under the new rules, the iconic 6-mile publicity caravan of branded sponsor vehicles that precedes the main peloton has been canceled for this section of the route. Only competing riders and race-essential official vehicles are permitted along the course, and spectators were explicitly instructed to avoid gathering along the roadside or at the finish area to reduce security risks and free up resources for fire response efforts.

The ongoing wildfire crisis spans far beyond France, as climate change-fueled extreme heat pushes multiple southern European countries into a state of emergency. Across the border in Greece, 96 separate wildfires ignited across the country in the 48 hours leading up to Monday, according to government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis. While most blazes were contained quickly before spreading, one large fire in the Mandra region west of Athens required an emergency deployment of 29 water-bombing aircraft and more than 200 ground firefighters to contain before nightfall, when aerial firefighting operations are impossible. As of Monday morning, the fire had diminished in intensity but had not been fully extinguished.

Strong winds across much of Greece kept wildfire risk at high or very high levels on Monday. A separate blaze on the southern island of Crete, burning through primarily agricultural land, forced the evacuation of an entire village near Ierapetra as gusty winds pushed the fire forward.

On the Iberian Peninsula, a second major heatwave is sweeping across Spain and Portugal, with hundreds of firefighters already working to contain scattered blazes. Spain’s national weather agency AEMET warned that the heatwave, which began on Sunday, will persist through at least Thursday, bringing record-high daytime and overnight temperatures. Across most of the country, including the capital Madrid, daytime highs were forecast between 99°F and 108°F for Monday and Tuesday, with overnight temperatures remaining above 68°F. These so-called “tropical nights” prevent people’s bodies from cooling down and recovering from daytime heat exposure, increasing the risk of heat-related illness.

In Portugal, inland areas saw even more extreme temperatures on Monday, while coastal capital Lisbon reached 91°F, with a cool-down forecast for later in the week.

The broad crisis aligns with long-standing climate warnings from scientists and European climate agencies. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms that Europe is warming faster than any other continent on Earth, with average temperatures rising twice as quickly as the global average since the 1980s. 2025 is already the third-hottest year ever recorded globally, bringing repeated severe heatwaves across the European continent. Climate researchers warn that rising temperatures are worsening drought and dry conditions, increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires across southern and southeastern Europe, while also raising public health risks for local populations and visitors alike.

As an early summer heatwave continues to parch much of Western Europe, a rapidly spreading wildfire in the French Pyrenees has forced more than 10,000 residents to evacuate over a dozen small communities near the Spanish border, triggering a cross-border emergency response and disrupting the annual Tour de France cycling race.

The blaze, centered near the village of Trévillach not far from the southern French city of Perpignan, has already scorched at least 4,600 hectares of land, local prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe confirmed in a post to social platform X. Firefighting efforts faced worsening conditions on the morning after the evacuation order was issued, with French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez warning that dangerous conditions were extending the battle against the flames. Authorities have repeatedly highlighted that gusty strong winds are expected to fan the fire further, pushing it closer to populated areas.

Local resident Patrice from Trévillach described the terrifying speed of the fire’s advance in an interview with AFP, noting the blaze came within 300 meters of local homes. “We were shocked by how fast it spread, it was staggering – bordering on panic,” he said.

The wildfire has also impacted one of the world’s most high-profile annual cycling events. The third stage of the 2026 Tour de France, a 195.9-kilometer route that starts in the Spanish city of Granollers and was scheduled to finish in the French Pyrenean town of Les Angles, has required drastic last-minute adjustments. Tour organizers have urged all spectators and non-essential personnel to avoid the final 40 kilometers of the stage to clear access routes for emergency response vehicles, and have cut the size of the official team motorcade to a minimum.

“An exceptional fire calls for exceptional measures for the Tour,” said race director Christian Prudhomme. “We invite the public not to come to the edge of the race or to the finish site.”

The wildfire crisis is not limited to France. Neighboring Spain has also seen multiple blazes burn across its northeastern regions. More than 2,200 hectares of the Les Gavarres natural reserve have already been destroyed by fire, though Catalan regional authorities reported Saturday evening that the blaze there had stabilized and was on track to be fully extinguished within the week. Further south in Spain’s Castellon province, 500 residents were evacuated after a separate wildfire spread into the Sierra de Espadan national park.

The European Union has mobilized additional resources to support the emergency response. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that four water-bombing aircraft based in Cyprus and Sweden would be deployed to the region to aid French firefighting teams.

This latest round of wildfires comes as Southern Europe grapples with a second early-season heatwave, following a record-breaking heat event in June that pushed national average temperatures to all-time highs across France. Forecasters warn temperatures could again climb as high as 40°C across southwestern France this week, after already surpassing that mark in parts of Spain and Portugal. “Although this heatwave is unlikely to break records in the way June’s did, it will still be exceptional for the time of year,” said BBC Weather Lead Forecaster Matt Taylor. “With the heat expected to persist into next week and little widespread rain forecast, the risk of further wildfires will remain elevated.”

The June heatwave left a devastating human toll, with official counts recording at least 2,025 excess deaths in France, 1,222 in Belgium, and roughly 480 in the Netherlands. Climate scientists have repeatedly linked the increasing frequency and intensity of European heatwaves and wildfires to manmade climate change. Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, a trend that has led to longer, hotter summers, strained freshwater supplies, and a sharp rise in the risk of large-scale, uncontrolled wildfires across the continent.

A devastating Russian strike on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has left a massive structural gash in a multi-story residential building, marking another violent escalation of attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country’s most populous urban center. The overnight assault prompted immediate on-site reporting from veteran BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford, who traveled to the damaged neighborhood in the hours immediately following the explosion to document the aftermath. Local emergency services have not yet released full details on casualties or the extent of additional damage to surrounding properties, but initial visual accounts from the scene confirm the strike caused severe, irreversible damage to the targeted residential block. This attack is the latest in a series of recent strikes targeting civilian areas across Ukraine, raising renewed international concerns about the safety of urban civilian populations amid ongoing conflict. Rainsford’s presence at the blast site underscores the continued focus of global media on the human cost of the conflict, even as fighting remains concentrated heavily in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.

Deep in a basement command post in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, a team of elite Ukrainian drone pilots lean in toward glowing computer screens, their eyes tracing grainy black-and-white thermal footage streamed from unmanned aircraft flying hundreds of kilometers deep inside Russian-occupied territory. This is the front line of a new, rapidly evolving aerial campaign that has upended long-standing battlefield dynamics, centered on a fleet of fixed-wing midrange drones built to choke off Russian military supply routes.

The mission is straightforward, explains Kat, commander of Ukraine’s elite K-2 drone brigade, one of the units leading the effort. By severing Russian logistics chains, the unit leaves frontline Russian infantry without critical provisions: no food, no ammunition, no night vision goggles, no communications batteries — nothing. That steady attrition, Kat says, gradually wears down Russian forces across every sector of the front.

Until earlier this year, a 15- to 125-mile corridor stretching behind Russian lines lay largely beyond Ukraine’s effective strike range. Short-range frontline drones lacked the capacity to reach targets deep enough, while long-range unmanned assets were reserved for high-value strategic targets hundreds of kilometers from the front. In that gap, Russian troops and supply convoys moved with relative impunity. That changed with the widespread deployment of midrange drones integrated with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite communications, a technological shift that has turned Russia’s once-secure logistical rear into an active, high-pressure combat zone.

The operation operates out of unassuming, easy-to-conceal locations: a nondescript office serves as the K-2 unit’s nerve center, a local carpenter’s workshop doubles as a drone assembly facility, and quiet village homes double as concealed launch sites. Inside the K-2 command workspace, workstations are cluttered with coffee mugs, energy drink cans and e-cigarettes, and pilots in casual civilian clothes sit under harsh fluorescent lights, their focus locked on screens displaying target lists and satellite maps, a scene that resembles a late-night office work session more than a military combat center.

In May alone, the K-2 unit launched 800 midrange drones from this base, with 650 of those strikes hitting their intended targets. After a separate advance team catapults drones into the sky from launch sites more than 200 kilometers from the command post, control transfers to the Kharkiv-based pilots, who fly the aircraft for up to four hours, reaching targets more than 100 kilometers behind Russian front lines. For many pilots, the work carries a personal weight: some displaced from their hometowns by the 2022 Russian invasion now fly over familiar streets, scanning childhood neighborhoods and old landmarks for hidden Russian troops and ammunition depots.

The unit fosters friendly competition between its 10 drone crews, with a whiteboard tracking successful strikes; the current record stands at 17 consecutive successful hits. For 20-year-old top pilot Pharaon, the work is a natural extension of the competitive video games he grew up playing. “When I was a kid, I used to go to computer clubs where we played Counter-Strike over a local network,” he explained. “The competition here is pretty much the same. It’s about who can kill more enemy troops or take out the biggest target.”

Ukraine’s breakthrough in this campaign traces back to an earlier technological shift: SpaceX cutting off unauthorized Starlink access for Russian forces earlier this year, disrupting Moscow’s own drone operations and communications while giving Kyiv a critical edge. That advantage let Ukraine upgrade its midrange drones to evade detection, resist electronic jamming and strike far more accurately, as Russia scrambled to catch up. “The blocking of Starlink for Russian forces was one of the most significant battlefield developments of the year,” said Rob Lee, senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program. The success of Ukraine’s current midrange campaign is a direct outcome of that shift.

Where just a few months ago only two out of 10 drone sorties succeeded, that ratio is now flipped, with eight out of 10 strikes hitting their mark, Pharaon said. The K-2 unit primarily operates the Dart, a low-cost midrange drone built from polystyrene, wood and 3D-printed parts, designed to target Russian logistics convoys. Larger models like the Hornet carry heavier payloads capable of striking bridges and other critical logistical infrastructure. Before every launch, crews inspect every component, with special attention paid to the Starlink communications module that keeps the drone connected to operators throughout its mission. Once checked, drones are moved to concealed launch sites near the front for takeoff.

Russian forces were caught off guard when the midrange campaign escalated three months ago, and they are still playing catch-up to counter the threat. Moscow has deployed mobile fire interception groups, additional anti-aircraft units and electronic warfare systems targeting Starlink, but analysts say coordination gaps between Russian units and the element of surprise have kept Ukraine one step ahead. Russia’s ability to intercept drones is hampered by poor inter-unit information sharing: even if one sector identifies an incoming drone, that information often does not reach neighboring sectors fast enough to mount an effective defense.

Ukraine’s campaign targets the key highway arteries connecting occupied southern Ukrainian cities including Mariupol, Berdyansk and Melitopol to the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, the main supply routes for Russian forces fighting in southern and eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian military officials report that sustained strikes have forced Russia to shift to slower, far less efficient resupply routes, making the critical land corridor linking mainland Russia to Crimea too dangerous for regular large-scale movement of fuel, ammunition and reinforcements. So far, Russian countermeasures including electronic warfare against Starlink have had limited effectiveness, Lee noted, though Moscow’s larger military establishment means it can absorb heavier losses as it adapts.

Samuel Bendett, a researcher at the Center for Naval Analyses, explained that the midrange drone campaign has successfully kept constant pressure on Russian supply lines, leaving some frontline sectors undersupplied and making the overall battlefield situation more manageable for Ukrainian forces. “The question is whether Ukraine can keep this pressure up over the next few weeks and months,” Bendett said, noting that Russia will eventually adapt its tactics to counter the threat.