Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Nine killed in Russian strikes on Kyiv on eve of Nato summit in Turkey

    Nine killed in Russian strikes on Kyiv on eve of Nato summit in Turkey

    Rescue teams in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are working tirelessly at dawn on Monday to extract trapped survivors from the rubble of bombed residential buildings after the second major Russian missile assault on the city in just one week. Monday’s attack claimed the lives of at least nine people and left 46 others wounded, including at least five children, according to Kyiv’s top military administrator Timur Tkachenko.

    The coordinated missile barrage comes just 24 hours before the much-anticipated NATO summit scheduled to open in Turkey, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to hold high-stakes bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. In a prescient warning issued just hours before Monday’s strikes, Zelenskyy cautioned that Russian forces were planning a follow-up massive attack on Kyiv, just days after an earlier assault on Thursday killed 30 people across the capital.

    Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed that Russian ballistic missiles impacted multiple locations across the city, sparking destructive blazes in several multi-story residential apartment complexes. Beyond civilian housing, the strikes also left warehouses and a local garage workshop heavily damaged. Visual evidence from the capital shows smoldering wreckage scattered across affected neighborhoods, with charred civilian vehicles abandoned along city streets. Footage captured on Monday morning shows emergency response crews systematically searching through collapsed building rubble for any remaining trapped survivors.

    Thursday’s initial wave of Russian attacks, which included a combination of drones and missiles, forced tens of thousands of Kyiv residents to flee to underground metro stations for shelter as air raid sirens wailed across the city through the early hours of Friday. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly condemned Russia for intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure in these attacks, a charge Russia has denied. Moscow maintains that all of its strikes are aimed exclusively at military and energy-related targets, framing the recent assaults as retaliation for what it says are recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian power stations and energy infrastructure inside Russian territory.

    Cross-border strikes targeting energy infrastructure continued over the weekend: overnight, power services in Sevastopol, a port city located on Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, reported temporary full power outages across the city.

    In the lead-up to the NATO summit, Zelenskyy has stepped up pressure on Western allies to speed up deliveries of long-range missiles that Ukraine can use to counter Russian offensive operations. In a post on the social platform X, Zelenskyy emphasized the human cost of delayed military support, writing: “Any delay with missiles for our air defense… means the loss of lives, and it encourages Russia to continue the war.” The Ukrainian leader has also made a formal request to the United States to grant manufacturing licenses that would allow Ukraine to produce its own Patriot air defense missiles domestically.

  • ‘I ate ketchup and cheese’, says Venezuelan girl trapped under quake rubble for 32 hours

    ‘I ate ketchup and cheese’, says Venezuelan girl trapped under quake rubble for 32 hours

    On June 24, two devastating back-to-back earthquakes shook Venezuela, leaving a trail of catastrophic destruction and thousands of fatalities across the country. The second of the two tremors registered a magnitude of 7.5, marking one of the most powerful seismic events to strike the South American nation in more than a century. Among the countless stories of loss and despair that emerged from the disaster, a remarkable tale of survival has captured the nation’s attention, centered on 12-year-old Fabiana and her mother Karina Blanco.

    Karina, a spinning instructor, was moments away from starting one of her scheduled classes when the ground began to shudder violently. As the shaking intensified, she fled the building with other participants, only to be overcome with terror when she realized her only child was alone at their home in Caraballeda, a coastal town in northern Venezuela’s La Guaira state. “When I realised the magnitude of it, I started screaming ‘my daughter, my daughter’. I sat in my car and drove as fast as I could,” Karina recalled of the frantic rush to reach her daughter.

    When Karina arrived at her 10-story apartment building, what she saw left her speechless: half of the entire structure had collapsed into a heap of rubble, leaving an empty gap where the building’s midsection once stood. At the time of the quakes, Fabiana had been hiding in the kitchen of their first-floor apartment, clinging to a counter as the walls caved in around her and threw her to the ground. “I saw things shaking, falling, breaking, and then the walls cracked. The wall separating my apartment from a friend’s collapsed. At that moment, I thought, ‘I’m going to die. I won’t survive this. No-one is going to rescue me,’” Fabiana said of the terrifying initial moments of her entrapment.

    What followed was an agonizing 32-hour wait for rescue, a test of endurance that would push the 12-year-old to her limits. Trapped on her back with rubble surrounding her on all sides and the fallen ceiling just inches from her face, Fabiana, who normally struggles with anxiety and claustrophobia, experienced an unexpected wave of calm that she later attributes to shock and quiet faith.

    A breakthrough came early, when a nurse who had been caring for Fabiana’s upstairs neighbors called out through the rubble after locating Fabiana by sound. The nurse was rescued six hours after the quake, and before being pulled from the debris, she passed along a critical message to volunteer rescuers: 12-year-old Fabiana was still alive inside the collapsed building.

    For Karina, the news shifted her from abject despair – she had already surrendered to the thought of rebuilding her life without her daughter – to wild hope. As search teams began to narrow their search, Fabiana made use of what little resources she had trapped under the rubble: after adjusting her cramped, painful position and suffering minor cuts, she stumbled on a bottle of ketchup and a portion of grated cheese, which she ate to stay conscious. She also located her damaged mobile phone; though cellular networks had collapsed across the disaster zone, she recorded a desperate video message outlining her location and situation, hoping someone would eventually find it.

    Initial search efforts by firefighting teams failed to reach Fabiana, leaving Karina swinging between hope and heartbreak repeatedly. It was only when a local volunteer named Viktor, who would later become the family’s hero, stopped to ask Karina about her search that the effort gained new momentum. Viktor climbed through the unstable rubble and called out to Fabiana, this time loud enough for the trapped girl to hear. Once again, the confirmation that Fabiana was alive sent a wave of energy through the gathered crowd of volunteers and onlookers.

    Even with the exact location confirmed, rescue efforts faced repeated setbacks: initial firefighting teams said reaching Fabiana through the unstable rubble was impossible and withdrew, and a second team also failed to break through to her. Reinforcements were called from the capital of Caracas, but they arrived after nightfall, leaving the search without light. Karina ran through the dark disaster zone begging for help, and eventually gathered seven motorcycles and several private cars, which pointed their headlights at the collapsed building to light the dig.

    Rescuers chipped away at the rubble bit by bit, until finally they cleared a hole large enough to see Fabiana. Footage of the moment, which shows the 12-year-old smiling through the gap, quickly went viral across social media in Venezuela, giving a moment of light amid the national tragedy. At around 2 a.m. local time on Friday, 32 hours after the earthquakes first struck, rescuers cleared a tunnel wide enough to pull Fabiana out. She walked out of the rubble supported by her rescuers, and immediately collapsed into her mother’s waiting arms.

    The miracle rescue comes amid a staggering human cost from the June 24 quakes. By Sunday, official counts put the confirmed death toll at 3,342, with tens of thousands more still unaccounted for across the affected regions. Of the nearly 50 residents who lived in Karina and Fabiana’s apartment building, only three survived the collapse. Fabiana escaped with surprisingly mild injuries: only a fractured left foot and minor cuts and bruises, with no other lasting damage. She is currently staying with her grandmother while the family recovers, and says she is still processing the trauma of her ordeal.

    For Karina, the grief of losing neighbors and friends to the disaster remains raw, and the long process of rebuilding lies ahead. But for the grieving mother, the survival of her daughter is the only outcome that matters. “There is a great sadness outside of this house. I feel so much pain when I think of my neighbours and my friends. It will take us a while to recover. But we will move on,” she said. “What more can a mother want? My daughter is alive.”

  • Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital kills at least 3

    Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital kills at least 3

    In the early hours of Monday, Russia executed a sustained multi-wave assault on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and attack drones, leaving at least three civilians dead just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly warned that a large-scale attack was imminent, Ukrainian officials confirmed.

    The assault inflicted severe damage on civilian residential infrastructure across the capital. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, announced via Telegram that a residential apartment block in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district suffered partial collapse from the strikes. In the eastern Darnytsia district, multiple multi-story residential buildings were also hit and damaged, with emergency responders warning that an unknown number of residents remain trapped under crumbled debris.

    “These are not military targets — these are ordinary apartment buildings, places where ordinary Kyiv residents slept and went about their daily lives,” Tkachenko said of the targeted civilian areas.

    As the assault continued through the early hours of Monday, loud explosions reverberated across multiple districts of the capital city, forcing thousands of local civilians to rush to underground metro stations to seek emergency shelter from the incoming strikes.

    Monday’s coordinated attack marks the second major Russian strike on Kyiv in less than a week. Just days prior, a separate combined Russian assault on the capital killed at least 31 people, making it one of the deadliest single attacks on Kyiv in recent months.

    In a Telegram statement issued late Sunday, before the strikes began, Zelenskyy repeated his urgent appeal to Western allies to speed up and expand deliveries of advanced air defense systems to Ukraine, specifically calling for more Patriot missile interceptors. The Ukrainian president emphasized that delays in replenishing Ukraine’s critical air defense stocks do not just leave Ukrainian cities vulnerable — they directly embolden the Kremlin to continue its full-scale invasion, which is now in its fourth year.

  • The African fishermen who blame Chinese trawlers for their woes

    The African fishermen who blame Chinese trawlers for their woes

    On sun-baked beaches along Sierra Leone’s Sherbo Island, 120 kilometers south of the capital Freetown, the age-old ritual of collective shore fishing unfolds much as it has for generations. A dozen villagers strain against thick ropes, shouting in coordinated bursts as they haul a heavy net bulging with snapper, mackerel, barracuda and rays out of the Atlantic surf. But where this communal work once yielded enough to feed local families and earn steady incomes, today’s hauls tell a story of growing crisis: small-scale local fishermen across the country say their catches have plummeted in recent years, and they point to one clear culprit – large, unregulated foreign trawlers operating illegally inside protected coastal waters.

    Marie Pierre, one of the local workers sorting sardines from discarded jellyfish after the net comes ashore, says illegal international vessels have been violating the country’s official seven-mile exclusion zone – an area reserved exclusively for small-scale domestic fishing – in growing numbers. For many fishermen, the incursions go far beyond just stealing fish. Musa Gassimo, a local Sherbo Island fisherman, alleges that foreign trawlers deliberately cut the lines of small-scale fishing nets when local crews return to shore overnight. Each replacement net costs up to $250, a catastrophic expense for low-income artisanal fishermen who rely on their gear to make a living.

    West Africa has long been recognized as the global epicenter of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. A 2024 global analysis estimates that 40% of the world’s unlicensed fishing catch is harvested from the region’s waters, costing West African governments a combined $10 billion in lost annual revenue while putting the food security of more than 30 million people who depend on local fishing at risk. Industry observers note that little progress has been made to reverse the crisis in the two years since the report was published.

    Thomas Turay, president of Sierra Leone’s Fishermen’s Union, confirms the severity of the decline, saying average catches for local members have dropped by roughly 40% since illegal incursions surged. Speaking from Tombo Harbour near Freetown, Turay points to large foreign vessels anchored just outside the exclusion zone, saying these ships slip into protected coastal waters almost every night under cover of darkness. Multiple local fishermen who spoke with reporters shared personal accounts of damage and loss: 70-year-old Abou Waisissé described an incident where dozens of small local boats had their nets cut in a single incursion, while 55-year-old Mohamedi Kamara said his small fishing craft was badly damaged in a collision with a large international trawler.

    When asked about the nationalities of the illegal vessels operating off Sierra Leone’s coast, Steve Trent, CEO and co-founder of the global advocacy group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), says the vast majority are flagged to China. While vessels from South Korea, Taiwan and European countries have operated illegally in the region in the past, Trent says Chinese trawlers now overwhelmingly dominate unlicensed fishing activity across West Africa.

    Local fishermen say they have repeatedly reported illegal incursions to Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries, but their complaints have gone unanswered. Turay blames systemic corruption for the lack of enforcement, saying operators of illegal trawlers bribe government officials to avoid penalties. “I know that somebody who is doing this illegal business has the money to bribe and pay,” he says. “Government authorities are afraid to help the local fishermen.”

    These allegations of widespread unenforced regulation are strenuously denied by Sheku Sei, director of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Fisheries. Sei acknowledges that illegal fishing was once a major problem, but argues that new regulatory measures have reduced incursions significantly. He says all international vessels operating in Sierra Leone’s waters are now required to carry transponders to track their movements, and government inspectors conduct routine checks on foreign fleets. When asked about the common global practice of vessels turning off transponders to avoid detection of illegal activity, Sei claimed this does not happen in Sierra Leone’s waters. He also argued that steep financial penalties for violating the seven-mile exclusion zone act as a strong deterrent, but could not name a single instance where penalties had actually been applied over the past 10 years.

    The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Sierra Leone did not respond to BBC requests for comment on the allegations. Last month, however, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a blanket denial after similar claims of illegal Chinese fishing in Latin American waters, saying “China is a responsible fishing nation, strictly enforcing the regulation of its distant-water fishing activities and engaging in mutually beneficial fisheries cooperation with relevant countries in accordance with international law.”

    Trent from EJF rejects this claim, arguing the Chinese government has adopted a deliberate “head-in-the-sand” approach to the crisis. “It’s simply not credible for them to carry on in this way. China, to date, still is not doing nearly enough to control its fleet. In fact, I would say they’re enabling it, through subsidies, through a lack of oversight and control.”

    Trent says the solution to the crisis requires two key changes: improved global tracking of commercial fishing vessels, and increased international pressure on the Chinese government to enforce regulations on its distant-water fleet. He notes that fish illegally harvested from West African waters are sold to consumers around the world, giving everyday shoppers the power to drive change by choosing only legally and sustainably sourced seafood, a choice that protects the livelihoods of vulnerable small-scale fishermen in poor coastal nations.

  • Israel eyes return to Gaza war within months, Channel 12 reports

    Israel eyes return to Gaza war within months, Channel 12 reports

    A new assessment from senior Israeli officials indicates that active hostilities could return to Gaza within the next 60 days, a timeline that would place renewed conflict before Israel’s scheduled October national elections, according to an exclusive report published Saturday by Israel’s prominent broadcaster Channel 12. Citing anonymous official sources, the outlet laid out a clear pathway that could lead Israel back to large-scale military operations in parts of Gaza it does not currently control, centered on the U.S.-led framework known as the Board of Peace.

    Under the terms of the existing ceasefire agreement that paused major fighting, the Board of Peace — established in January 2025 on the initiative of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who chairs the body — is tasked with monitoring compliance from all parties. Israeli officials told Channel 12 that the board is on track to rule within two to three months that Hamas has violated the terms of the ceasefire by failing to meet its requirement to disarm. Such a formal finding would create diplomatic cover for Israel to restart military raids across the strip.

    Channel 12 also obtained new details from a senior Israeli political source about previous delays to this process. The source confirmed that the board’s director-general, Nikolay Mladenov, was prepared to formally announce that Hamas was in breach of the agreement as early as two months ago, but ultimately held off on the declaration at the request of international mediators working to preserve the fragile ceasefire. The source added that unless a major shift in Hamas’s position occurs in the coming 90 days, Mladenov will move forward with the finding that the group has failed to uphold its end of the deal.

    The current ceasefire was first reached the previous October, after two years of sustained Israeli military operations in Gaza that left nearly 72,000 Palestinians dead, reduced much of the densely populated territory to rubble, and created what is widely recognized as one of the world’s most severe ongoing humanitarian catastrophes. While the ceasefire halted large-scale ground operations, the report notes that violations of the truce have been ongoing on the Israeli side: since the ceasefire took effect, more than 1,000 additional Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, the Israeli military has expanded its controversial buffer zone inside Gaza, and the country has maintained harsh restrictions on the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into the blockaded territory.

    For its part, Hamas has repeatedly stated that it will not enter negotiations on disarmament until Israel fully meets all of its own obligations laid out in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, including easing the aid blockade and withdrawing from occupied areas of the strip.

    This reporting comes from Middle East Eye, a media outlet that produces independent, in-depth coverage of political and humanitarian developments across the Middle East, North Africa, and surrounding regions.

  • Fierce winds hit US Pacific territories as Super Typhoon Bavi makes landfall near Guam

    Fierce winds hit US Pacific territories as Super Typhoon Bavi makes landfall near Guam

    On Monday local time, a powerful Category 5 super typhoon named Bavi slammed into Rota, a small U.S.-owned island in the western Pacific that is part of the Northern Mariana Islands, located northeast of Guam. The weather event brought catastrophic, life-threatening conditions to the region, including 180-mile-per-hour sustained winds and gusts reaching as high as 215 miles per hour, alongside torrential downpours that have forced widespread shelter-in-place orders across the archipelago.

    The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that the storm began moving across Rota, home to fewer than 2,000 residents, early Monday. Alongside the extreme wind warning that remained in full effect for Rota, official typhoon warnings were extended to neighboring Guam, Tinian and Saipan, while other smaller surrounding islands remained under tropical storm watches and warnings. The entire region is still in the process of rebuilding and recovering from the impact of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, another powerful cyclone that hit the same area in April this year, which was previously recorded as the strongest tropical storm of 2024 to hit the Pacific.

    Edwin Montvila, an NWS meteorologist, emphasized the imminent danger the storm poses to human life. Officials have urged all residents across affected areas to move to reinforced interior rooms of their homes or shelters immediately, and to stay far away from windows and exterior walls. “Entering outside can result in death from flying projectiles. Utility poles and associated power lines will be down,” Montvila explained, stressing that all residents should stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel at all costs.

    While Bavi was moving at a relatively fast forward speed on Monday morning, giving forecasters hope that its most severe impacts would be short-lived, Montvila noted that the storm’s large size means tropical storm-level conditions, including heavy flooding rains, could persist across the islands through at least Monday night. The storm also proved difficult to track in the hours leading up to landfall: Montvila reported that Bavi’s path was “a bit erratic” overnight, shifting north and south repeatedly as it moved west toward the Northern Mariana Islands.

    Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero released a social media video Sunday urging all residents on the island to shelter in place and avoid road travel. “Here we are experiencing another severe force of winds on our island, but as we know, we are always ready and prepared in our planning and our protection of our people,” she stated.

    Local long-term residents expressed a mix of caution and experience with the frequent Pacific typhoon season. The Rev. Francis Hezel, a Guam-based priest based in Dededo, reported hearing winds howling outside his home for hours starting before dawn on Monday. He noted that most homes on Guam are built from reinforced concrete, which he hopes will limit widespread structural damage, though he acknowledged the high risk of multi-day power outages that have followed recent severe storms. He added that long-term residents are accustomed to preparing for typhoon season, and suggested that officials could moderate warnings to avoid unnecessary public anxiety, framing the event as more of a major inconvenience than an unprecedented catastrophe for the region.

  • Eight rescued from seaplane that made ‘hard landing’ in Manhattan river

    Eight rescued from seaplane that made ‘hard landing’ in Manhattan river

    A dramatic midday emergency unfolded off Manhattan’s East 23rd Street Marina on Tuesday, when a Kodiak 100 seaplane suffered a catastrophic hard landing on New York City’s East River, triggering a rapid emergency response that saved all eight people on board. Local emergency officials confirmed that first responders from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) were dispatched to the crash site shortly after 12 p.m. local time — 16:00 GMT — following initial 911 reports of an aircraft down in the water.

    Upon arrival, first responders found the seaplane remained afloat and upright, allowing emergency teams to safely evacuate all eight occupants. Of those on board, two individuals sustained minor non-life-threatening injuries but declined to seek on-site or hospital medical care, according to FDNY updates. After the evacuation, the intact aircraft was towed back to a nearby dock for preservation ahead of an official probe.

    The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is leading the official investigation into the incident, confirmed that the emergency stemmed from a hard landing that generated enough force to snap a key wing strut on the aircraft. A hard landing, defined as a touchdown that exceeds an aircraft manufacturer’s approved vertical speed and impact limits, can cause critical structural damage even when the craft remains afloat.

    Multiple on-scene and preliminary accounts have added further context to the incident: the New York Times reported the aircraft was traveling from the Hamptons, a popular summer seaside getaway for wealthy New York residents, en route to a local Manhattan seaplane base when it hit a sudden large wave during landing attempts. The impact caused the seaplane to partially capsize before it stabilized in an upright position. The FAA also noted in a social media statement that air traffic control was not providing active services to the aircraft at the time of the landing.

    Notably, this incident marks the second seaplane emergency on the East River in just three weeks. On June 13, a small two-seater seaplane suffered damage when it was hit by a large wave during takeoff near Queens, CBS News previously reported. In that earlier incident, FDNY emergency teams safely rescued the pilot and single passenger from the downed craft via boat, with no reported fatalities or critical injuries in that event either.

    As of Tuesday afternoon, the FAA has launched a full review to identify root causes of the hard landing, with investigators set to examine structural data from the seaplane, weather and wave conditions at the time of landing, and the pilot’s actions leading up to the incident.

  • ‘Definitely felt a big bang’: Delta plane hit by firework while landing in Chicago

    ‘Definitely felt a big bang’: Delta plane hit by firework while landing in Chicago

    On Saturday night, as millions of Americans gathered across the country to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence with fireworks celebrations, a commercial passenger flight faced an unexpected mid-descent hazard near Chicago. Delta Air Lines Flight 1076, an Airbus A319 carrying 52 passengers and six crew members, was on final approach to Midway International Airport after departing from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when it collided with a fireworks device.

    Flight data shows the jet took off from Atlanta at 19:51 EDT, and was descending through roughly 200 feet (61 meters) above ground level when the impact occurred. Audio recordings from air traffic control capture the pilot’s immediate report of the incident. “We just had a firework hit our plane,” the pilot told controllers, adding, “We’re just hoping it was just a mortar that went off underneath but definitely felt a big bang.”

    In a notable detail, air traffic controllers had already issued a warning to the flight minutes before the impact, alerting the crew to illegal private fireworks activity along the approach path. “Delta 1076… use caution, there are multiple homes near the approach end shooting off fireworks,” a controller informed the crew. In follow-up communications, controllers added that local authorities had been notified of the widespread fireworks activity near the airport, though no immediate intervention had been confirmed by the time of the incident.

    Despite the impact, the flight crew maintained control of the aircraft and completed a safe landing at 20:33 CDT, just three minutes after the FAA logged the incident. The plane taxied normally to its gate, with no injuries reported among passengers or crew. Following landing, maintenance teams carried out a full inspection of the Airbus A319, and no structural damage was detected, a Delta spokesperson confirmed.

    The incident has drawn renewed attention to the risks of unsupervised private fireworks use around major aviation hubs, a persistent hazard during the annual Independence Day holiday. While large-scale, official fireworks displays are carefully coordinated to avoid disrupting air travel—including the 40-minute National Park Service show on the Washington National Mall, which prompted a planned full-day suspension of flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—unregulated private fireworks use remains common across residential neighborhoods near many U.S. airports.

    The Federal Aviation Administration is now reviewing the incident, and Delta has reported the event to national aviation safety authorities as part of standard protocol for unplanned air safety events.

  • Macron will visit Syria as the first Western leader since Assad’s ouster, Damascus says

    Macron will visit Syria as the first Western leader since Assad’s ouster, Damascus says

    DAMASCUS, Syria – A landmark diplomatic shift is unfolding in the Middle East, as Syrian state media announced Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron will make an upcoming visit to Syria — the first trip to the war-torn nation by a Western head of state since former President Bashar Assad was ousted from power in 2024.

    The announcement, carried by Syria’s official SANA news agency and sourced from President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s office, did not release a specific date or full itinerary for the visit. The timing also comes amid Macron’s already scheduled regional travel: he is set to attend a NATO summit taking place in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

    This upcoming trip follows a high-profile meeting between the two leaders in Paris just months earlier, in May 2025. During that summit, Macron hosted al-Sharaa — the former Islamist leader who took control of Damascus after Assad’s departure — and made a key commitment: he would lead diplomatic efforts to push the European Union and United States to roll back the harsh, long-running sanctions that have crippled Syria’s economy for years. To date, the majority of those sanctions have already been lifted.

    Notably, the Élysée Palace, the official residence and workplace of the French president, offered no comment on the planned trip when reached by reporters on Sunday.

    According to SANA’s report, Macron will not travel alone: he will be joined by a delegation of private investors and senior representatives from major French companies, signaling a push to open economic opportunities for Syria as it begins the long process of recovery.

    Syria’s road to stability remains steep, however. The country’s 14-year armed conflict has left an indelible mark: it has killed nearly half a million people, forced millions more to flee their homes as displaced persons or refugees, and reduced critical national infrastructure to ruins. While a number of foreign governments and private business groups have already made major investment pledges to support recovery, official estimates show Syria requires hundreds of billions of dollars to fully rebuild its economy and public services, and pull millions of Syrian citizens out of deep poverty.

  • Australia probes mystery space balls that washed up on beach

    Australia probes mystery space balls that washed up on beach

    Over the weekend, six large solid silver spheres washed ashore on Forrest Beach, a quiet coastal stretch north of Townsville in northern Queensland, Australia, triggering an official investigation into their unknown origins. Australian emergency services and space agencies have moved quickly to secure the site, amid growing speculation that the unusual objects are pieces of space debris.

    Queensland Fire Department issued an urgent public warning shortly after the discovery, labeling the spheres potentially hazardous. A 50-meter exclusion zone remains in effect around the area where the objects were found, with police guarding the site while specialized crews in full hazmat suits transferred the spheres into sealed hazardous material containers. Authorities have urged local residents and visitors who encounter any additional suspicious objects in the region not to touch, move, or examine them, instead advising immediate evacuation from the area and a call to emergency services.

    The Australian Space Agency (ASA) is leading the ongoing probe to pinpoint where the spheres originated and what they were used for, and the BBC has reached out to the agency for further updates on the investigation. Online space enthusiasts and commentators have widely theorized that the objects are propellant tanks from orbital rocket launches. If this hypothesis holds, the spheres could still hold residual amounts of highly flammable, reactive propellant that poses a significant public safety risk. As of yet, no entity has come forward to claim the debris, and the specific launch vehicle or space operator connected to the spheres remains unconfirmed.

    For locals in the normally quiet Forrest Beach area, the unusual discovery has stirred up unexpected curiosity and excitement. Lisa Scobie, owner of Forrest Beach Takeaway, told Australia’s public broadcaster ABC that the surge in emergency service and investigator activity has injected a rare jolt of energy into the small community. “It’s very quiet, not a lot happens here. So having a lot of extra activity… that definitely created a little bit of excitement,” Scobie said, adding that most locals are eager to learn the true origin of the mystery objects.

    This latest discovery is not an isolated incident: unusual space-related debris has washed up on Australian shores before. In 2023, a large metal dome that landed on a beach near Perth, Western Australia, was eventually confirmed by Indian space authorities to be a discarded component from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV). Similar spherical debris has also been found far beyond Australia: in 2011, a matching object was discovered in a remote grassland in Namibia, southern Africa. Experts who analyzed that find concluded it was almost certainly a rocket fuel tank that once carried hydrazine, a highly volatile and toxic propellant used in many unmanned orbital rockets.

    The incident comes as global space agencies increasingly turn their attention to the growing problem of uncontrolled space debris re-entry. With the rapid expansion of commercial and government orbital launches around the world, discarded rocket components and spacecraft parts re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on a regular basis, and while most burn up completely during descent, larger solid components often survive to reach the surface, most often falling into remote ocean areas but occasionally washing up on populated coastlines.