分类： world

A Russian drone attack has damaged a historic building in central Kyiv, forcing all people inside the structure to evacuate to safety, according to on-the-ground reporting from the BBC’s senior correspondent Paul Adams. The targeted site is Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, an institution deeply rooted in the country’s academic and cultural heritage that has stood in the Ukrainian capital for more than a century. Adams, who arrived at the strike location shortly after the incident, documented visible damage to the building’s facade, with broken glass scattered across surrounding sidewalks and debris littering nearby street areas. Local emergency services responded quickly, cordoning off the perimeter of the site to clear unexploded ordnance if needed and check for any trapped or injured individuals. As of the latest update from the scene, no fatalities have been confirmed, and all occupants who were inside the building at the time of the drone impact have successfully escaped the area. This latest strike comes as Russia has resumed a pattern of frequent long-range drone and missile attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure across multiple cities, just as Ukraine works to shore up its air defense capabilities with newly promised Western military support. The National Academy of Sciences, one of Kyiv’s most important academic institutions, has continued partial operations through much of the full-scale invasion, making this strike an example of how Russia’s campaign is increasingly targeting cultural and educational infrastructure across the country.

After more than 12 years of uncertainty and grief for hundreds of bereaved relatives, a Paris criminal court has issued a landmark ruling holding Spanish carrier Swiftair criminally responsible for one of the deadliest aviation disasters of the 2010s. The 2014 crash of Air Algérie flight AH5017, which claimed the lives of all 116 people on board, has finally resulted in a guilty verdict for involuntary manslaughter.

The tragedy unfolded on July 24, 2014, when a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft — owned by Swiftair, leased to Air Algérie, and operated by a Swiftair crew — crashed in the arid plains of northern Mali while en route from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria’s main international hub. Eyewitness and meteorological reports confirmed the plane was flying through a severe thunderstorm when it went down, killing passengers and crew from 15 different countries: among the deceased were 54 French citizens, 23 Burkinabè nationals, dozens of Lebanese and Algerian passengers, and all six Spanish crew members.

Years of investigation and legal wrangling uncovered the root causes of the disaster. The court concluded in its Monday ruling that systemic negligence in Swiftair’s crew training programs directly contributed to the fatal chain of errors during the flight. Investigators long established that the flight crew failed to activate the aircraft’s anti-icing system as it passed through stormy conditions, allowing dangerous ice crystals to build up on critical air pressure sensors. This blockage triggered an automatic, uncommanded reduction in engine power that left the plane uncontrollable, leading to the crash in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert.

The trial itself only opened in Paris this past March, delayed by years of cross-border legal disputes and procedural hurdles. Spanish prosecutors had previously closed their own investigation into the disaster without filing any criminal charges against the airline or its staff, leaving French courts to take on the prosecution. Swiftair’s defense team has repeatedly rejected the findings of the French investigation, dismissing the entire case as “a botched job” in court arguments. Following Monday’s guilty verdict, the company now has 10 days to file an appeal against the ruling.

The court handed down the maximum possible penalty permitted under French law: a €225,000 fine (equivalent to roughly $256,000 or £193,000). The court also ruled that Swiftair must cover all legal costs accrued by the prosecution and civil parties in the case, which legal representatives say will push total costs far above the base fine amount.

For victim relatives, who have waited more than 12 years for a formal ruling holding a party accountable for the crash, the verdict has brought a long-sought sense of closure. Sandrine Tricot, a leading advocate for victim families who lost her husband Frederic in the crash, called the outcome a profound relief after what she counted as “4,449 days of waiting for the victims’ families.”

Tricot, who heads the French National Federation for Victims of Terrorist Attacks and Collective Accidents — which joined the case as a civil party — spoke to reporters outside the Paris courthouse alongside other bereaved relatives. “The amount of money was never the end goal. We are relieved that justice has finally been delivered,” she said. “No amount of money could bring back our loved ones.” She added that coordinating with families across Algeria and Burkina Faso who also lost loved ones had been a long, difficult process, but she hoped the guilty verdict would bring all bereaved relatives a measure of peace. “The conviction is an important step towards recognising criminal responsibility for the disaster,” she noted.

Nathalie Police, who lost both her 65-year-old father Didier and her 18-year-old half-brother Nicolas in the crash, attended every day of the four-week trial and stood alongside Tricot outside court, also praising the ruling. Sébastien Busy, the lead lawyer representing the vast majority of victim families, echoed that sentiment, calling the guilty verdict a long-overdue relief for all those affected by the tragedy.

Starting this Monday, all passengers traveling across ferry routes connecting the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland will face a new travel requirement: a valid passport must be presented before boarding, bringing an end to years of allowing alternative photo identification for cross-channel trips.

Two of the region’s major ferry operators, Irish Ferries and Stena Line, have confirmed that the regulatory change applies to all major cross-route services between the two nations. For Irish Ferries, the new rule applies in both directions on its two busiest routes: Dublin to Holyhead, and Rosslare to Pembroke. Stena Line, meanwhile, has extended the mandatory passport requirement to all passengers departing from or arriving at its four terminals in Dublin, Holyhead, Fishguard and Rosslare.

Prior to this update, passengers crossing the Irish Sea were permitted to use a range of alternative official photo identification, including national identity cards and UK or Irish driving licences. Both operators have confirmed that these alternative documents will no longer be accepted on the affected routes starting Monday. The shift in policy is not a voluntary decision by the ferry companies, but a mandatory adjustment to bring operations in line with updated regulations issued by UK Border Force.

In an official notice published on its website, Stena Line explained that the new pre-boarding passport check requirement is designed to satisfy UK Border Force’s new standards for the accuracy and integrity of passenger identity data collected before departure. Irish Ferries echoed that the mandatory passport rule applies to all passengers, regardless of whether they hold Irish or British citizenship.

Beyond the new passport requirement, Irish Ferries has also issued an additional reminder for international travelers: non-British and non-Irish citizens planning a short stay of up to six months in the United Kingdom may need to apply for and obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) prior to travel. This digital entry permit grants approval for travel to the UK, as well as the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, for stays of up to six months. Notably, both ferry operators confirmed that passport cards, the wallet-sized alternative to full passport booklets offered by some national governments, will still be accepted for travel under the new rules.

A devastating migrant crossing incident in the English Channel has claimed three lives, including a 10-year-old child, French regional authorities have confirmed. Two adult women, both aged 30, also lost their lives when the overloaded small vessel carrying migrants encountered serious distress shortly after departing northern France.

The emergency response was triggered after a distress call was received from the boat, which was attempting the dangerous crossing to the United Kingdom from Blériot Plage, a popular beach on the Calais coast. According to official records, the small craft was carrying 105 passengers when it got into trouble early on Monday morning.

The French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea, which oversees maritime search and rescue operations in the region, confirmed that initial emergency care was provided to the three stricken passengers directly on the rescue craft. However, a specialist emergency medical team, airlifted to the scene by helicopter, later officially pronounced all three dead.

All surviving passengers were safely transferred to shore, with rescue vessels completing disembarkation at the Port of Calais later the same morning, according to reports from Agence France-Presse. The tragedy comes amid years of rising irregular migration attempts across the English Channel, which remains one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and a notoriously dangerous crossing for small, unfit vessels.

Pope Leo, who ascended to the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in May 2025, has drawn massive crowds across France during his landmark four-day official visit to the historically Catholic nation, while delivering a forceful call to root out pervasive clergy sexual abuse within the country’s church institutions.

On the third day of the tour, the pontiff addressed a closed-door gathering of French bishops at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the revered Catholic pilgrimage site in southern France. Ahead of his scheduled private meeting with survivors of clerical abuse, Pope Leo pressed church leaders to maintain unwavering focus on confronting the crisis that has rocked the French Catholic community for decades.

“You have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context,” the Pope told the assembly, whose prepared remarks were later released to media outlets. “It is important to persevere along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance.”

The pontiff’s urgent appeal comes five years after a devastating 2021 independent inquiry documented that an estimated 330,000 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy or lay church members across France over a 70-year period. Following his address to bishops, Pope Leo led a public Mass before thousands of gathered worshippers at the Lourdes shrine, with a private meeting with abuse survivors planned for immediately after the service.

The crowds that have turned out for the Pope’s visit have been staggering. A day before the Lourdes events, an estimated 700,000 people packed Paris’s Place de la Concorde to hear the pontiff speak. Earlier that day, as Pope Leo traveled down the iconic Champs-Élysées in his open-top popemobile, throngs of cheering supporters lined the route, waving to the leader of the global Catholic Church as he greeted well-wishers. That same Friday, the Pope also held an official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the start of his visit.

During a public Mass in Paris the previous Saturday, Pope Leo used his address to encourage French Catholics to share their faith openly with broader society, urging attendees not to keep their beliefs private. “Catholics should not keep their faith to themselves but let it overflow so that those you meet may be refreshed,” he told the congregation. He also reserved special remarks for young people in attendance, framing youth as the core of the contemporary Church. “How beautiful it is to see your enthusiasm, energy and commitment, and the joy you bring to Christian communities,” he said.

The Pope’s visit unfolds against a shifting backdrop for Catholicism in modern France, a country that maintains an officially secular political system but retains deep historical religious roots. Long-term trends have shown sharp decline in church participation: the share of the French population that attends regular worship fell from 35% in 1960 to less than 5% in recent years, and the total number of active priests has shrunk by two-thirds, dropping from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000 today.

Yet there are early signs of a small but notable renewal of interest. Over the past five years, the number of adult baptisms in France has more than doubled, reaching 10,000 in 2025, according to recent church data.

Looking ahead to the final day of the visit Sunday, Pope Leo is scheduled to meet with staff and residents at a Lourdes healthcare facility before taking part in the traditional evening torchlight procession at the shrine. Visits to France by sitting popes have long been a regular occurrence, reflecting the nation’s enduring place in global Catholic history.