Global Pulse

分类： world

  • UN votes to adopt new world map showing Africa’s true size

    UN votes to adopt new world map showing Africa’s true size

    In a landmark vote that addresses centuries of geographic bias in global mapping, the United Nations General Assembly has backed a plan to replace the ubiquitous but deeply flawed Mercator projection with a more geographically accurate map that properly reflects Africa’s true scale. The initiative, dubbed the “Correct the Map” resolution, was introduced by the West African nation of Togo and earned unified support from the 55-member African Union ahead of the vote. When the final tally was counted, 164 member states had thrown their support behind the measure, with major European powers France and the United Kingdom among the backers. The United States stood alone as the only country to vote against the resolution, while six other nations abstained from the vote.

    For more than 450 years, the Mercator projection has dominated classroom walls, atlases, and popular world maps across the globe. Created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, the projection was originally designed to aid European mariners in navigating transoceanic trade routes and exploration voyages. Its enduring popularity stems from its unique ability to preserve straight lines of constant compass bearing, a feature that made it invaluable for 16th-century navigation. However, the projection carries a well-documented flaw: an unavoidable distortion inherent to flattening a three-dimensional spherical globe onto a two-dimensional plane. To preserve the straight-line navigation property, Mercator’s design systematically inflates the size of landmasses near the poles while drastically shrinking the apparent area of continents and countries near the equator.

    The most striking distortion of the projection shrinks Africa to such an extent that it appears roughly the same size as Greenland on most Mercator maps, even though Africa’s actual land area is 14 times larger than the Arctic island. Proponents of the change have long argued that this persistent misrepresentation is not just a trivial geographic error, but a distortion of global perceptions that undermines recognition of Africa’s geopolitical importance, economic potential, and development needs. By systematically minimizing the continent’s size on maps, critics argue, the Mercator projection has contributed to a longstanding underappreciation of Africa’s role in global affairs and the scale of challenges and opportunities it faces.

    The solution adopted by the UN and African Union is the Equal Earth projection, a modern equal-area map created by a team of independent cartographers in 2018. Unlike the Mercator projection, which prioritizes navigation shape over area accuracy, the Equal Earth projection preserves the proportional size of all landmasses across the globe, ensuring that Africa, South America, and other equatorial regions appear at their true size relative to northern landmasses such as Europe and North America. In February of this year, all 54 African Union member states formally adopted the Equal Earth projection, citing its ability to fairly represent all continents while retaining the visual clarity needed for general use.

    Speaking ahead of Friday’s General Assembly vote, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey framed the initiative as a matter of global equity. “A fair world begins with a fair map,” Dussey told Reuters news agency. In an earlier briefing to UN delegates, he expanded on this reasoning, noting that maps are never neutral political or cultural objects. “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood,” Dussey explained.

    While the non-binding resolution does not legally require all UN member states to alter their official maps, policy analysts and cartographers expect it to drive widespread changes to mapping standards across international institutions, educational systems, and global publications in the coming years. The vote marks a historic step toward addressing long-standing geographic bias that has shaped popular understanding of the world for centuries.

  • Argentine couple to return Nazi-looted painting to rightful owner

    Argentine couple to return Nazi-looted painting to rightful owner

    Eighty years after it was looted by Nazi forces from a Jewish art collector’s collection, a long-missing late-baroque masterpiece has been ordered returned to its rightful lineage following a surprising discovery hidden in plain sight in coastal Argentina.

    The artwork, *Portrait of a Lady* (also referred to as *Contessa Colleoni*), was first spotted by pure chance in August 2025: a Dutch newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, identified the painting in public listing photos posted by an estate agent advertising a home for sale in Mar del Plata, a popular coastal town just outside Buenos Aires. The canvas was hanging unassumingly above a green sofa in the living room of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of former Nazi fugitive Friedrich Kadgien.

    Friedrich Kadgien, who fled to Argentina after World War II, was a senior adviser to Hermann Göring—Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command, who oversaw the mass plunder of thousands of artworks across occupied Europe. The portrait was one of more than 1,000 pieces stolen from the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Jewish Dutch art dealer, following the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

    After the painting was identified, authorities launched a search of Kadgien’s property in September 2025 that failed to turn up the artwork. Kadgien and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegoso were subsequently charged with concealment of stolen property and placed under house arrest. On Friday, however, a court in Mar del Plata reached a negotiated resolution: all criminal proceedings against the couple have been suspended in exchange for their full cooperation to return the painting and a financial settlement.

    Under the terms of the agreement between Kadgien’s family, prosecutors, and Goudstikker’s heirs, Kadgien and Cortegoso will surrender all legal claims to the artwork. They have also agreed to donate 4.8 million Argentine pesos (equivalent to approximately £2,356 or $3,185) to local public hospitals in exchange for avoiding prosecution for concealing the stolen piece.

    The sole surviving heir to Goudstikker’s collection is Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law. Per reporting from Argentine newspaper *Clarin*, von Saher plans to place the portrait on temporary loan to Buenos Aires’ Holocaust Museum, where it will be displayed to raise public awareness of Nazi-looted art and the ongoing work to return stolen cultural property to its rightful owners. Von Saher has long reaffirmed her family’s commitment to the recovery effort, stating previously that the goal remains “to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection, and to restore his legacy.”

    Art historical scholarship on the portrait has been divided since its recovery. The work is broadly attributed to late-baroque Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi, though some experts have argued it may instead be the work of Giacomo Ceruti, another prominent Italian painter from the same historical period.

  • Russia hits Ukrainian security headquarters in drone attack, Zelensky says

    Russia hits Ukrainian security headquarters in drone attack, Zelensky says

    In a targeted strike that has raised tensions ahead of planned US-mediated peace negotiations this weekend, a Russian drone struck the central Kyiv headquarters of Ukraine’s top domestic security agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed. The attack took place on Friday afternoon, with the unmanned aerial vehicle striking directly at a room assigned to Oleksandr Poklad, head of the SBU’s operations in the building. As of Friday evening, it remained unclear whether Poklad was present in the facility at the time of the impact, but Zelensky said he had already spoken with the security chief to order a proportional, measurable response to the assault.

    Zelensky confirmed in a Telegram statement that the drone was intentionally aimed at the senior SBU official’s office, a development that military analysts say points to improving accuracy in Russia’s latest generation of attack drones. The strike also fuels speculation that Moscow is ramping up offensive operations ahead of the scheduled diplomatic talks, in a bid to strengthen its negotiating position. “All emergency services are on the scene. Everyone affected will receive the necessary assistance,” Zelensky wrote in his public update. He added: “I instructed Poklad to deliver an appropriate, tangible response and, where possible, one that mirrors this strike, to the Russians once everything is ready. Our military will support this response.”

    Visual footage of the attack circulated widely across social media and news platforms, showing thick black smoke billowing from two upper-floor windows on the building’s facade. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed that five people were injured in the strike, though he did not specify whether the casualties were SBU staff inside the building. A nearby café, part of a popular local chain, suffered significant structural damage, and one civilian customer was transported to a local hospital for treatment. Stanislav Zavertaylo, co-owner of the damaged café, told the BBC that this was the third location of his chain to be destroyed or damaged since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. “Now I’m in shock because there’s a lot of damage. All the windows are broken, there’s a lot of glass, garbage,” he said.

    In a separate announcement released Friday, Russia’s defense ministry confirmed it had also targeted a cargo vessel in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk and a commercial tanker near Odesa in coordinated strikes overnight. Over the past several weeks, Moscow has significantly escalated its daytime airstrike campaign against key Ukrainian infrastructure and government targets, increasingly deploying faster, jet-powered drones that are far more difficult for Ukrainian air defense systems to intercept. It has not yet been confirmed what type of drone was used in the SBU headquarters attack.

    This successful strike on a high-profile central Kyiv government building marks a rare breakthrough for Russian offensive operations. Prior to this attack, key Ukrainian government facilities in the capital had remained largely unharmed despite repeated Russian attempts to target administrative and security infrastructure amid the Kremlin’s ongoing military campaign. The SBU headquarters is located just a short distance from Kyiv’s iconic St Sophia Cathedral, the oldest standing building in the capital, and the agency plays a central role in Ukraine’s war effort, leading deep cross-border strikes against Russian military and infrastructure targets.

    Witnesses in the area described the attack unfolding during a routine air raid alert, with a brief high-pitched whine of the incoming drone followed by a deafening explosion that sent shockwaves across nearby neighborhoods and sent plumes of smoke rising over the city skyline. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry representative Andriy Sybiha condemned the attack as a deliberate act of escalation timed to undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts. “Moscow launched this strike during a renewed push for peace – laying bare its true rejection of diplomacy,” Sybiha said, adding that the assault “is a major escalation that demands resolute responses.”

    The strike comes just days ahead of a planned visit by US mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are set to travel to both Moscow and Kyiv this weekend as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire and end the 3-year-old full-scale war. According to Axios, which cited anonymous senior US officials, the envoys will first meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before traveling to Kyiv for talks with Zelensky on Sunday. Witkoff and Kushner have spearheaded President Donald Trump’s peace initiative since he took office, though the pair have yet to secure a breakthrough on a lasting settlement.

  • At least 37 killed by toxic fumes during alleged petrol theft in Nigeria, reports say

    At least 37 killed by toxic fumes during alleged petrol theft in Nigeria, reports say

    A deadly incident in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern region has left at least 37 people dead after they inhaled toxic fumes while siphoning fuel from an illegal pipeline tapping operation in Rivers State, according to the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), a local environmental and community advocacy group.

    YEAC reports that more than 100 people arrived at Okari Jetty in Okrika under the cover of darkness aboard small vessels to collect the stolen refined fuel, and dozens remain unaccounted for following the disaster. Local eyewitness accounts confirm that many victims collapsed after exposure to the toxic fumes, with some falling into the adjacent Bonny River and others rushed to nearby medical facilities for emergency care. Nigeria’s police force confirmed to the BBC that a formal investigation is currently underway to confirm the exact number of casualties and establish a full timeline of the incident.

    Illegal oil theft and pipeline tapping have plagued the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s core oil production hub, for decades. Rivers State is one of several key producing states that make up the vast coastal Niger Delta region, a landscape of mangrove swamps and wetlands that holds the bulk of Nigeria’s massive oil and natural gas reserves. For generations, criminal networks have illegally tapped into operational pipelines to siphon crude oil and refined petroleum products, which are then either sold directly on the black market or processed at unregulated illegal refineries across the region.

    YEAC confirmed that the fatal incident involved exposure to what local communities call “Indorama fuel”, a grade of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the standard gasoline used for road vehicles across Nigeria. Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has issued a public statement urging both media outlets and local residents to only rely on officially verified information as security agencies work to piece together the details of the early Thursday morning incident. The NSCDC also reiterated its longstanding condemnation of illegal pipeline tapping and oil siphoning, warning that these criminal activities pose severe, ongoing threats to human life, local ecosystems, and Nigeria’s already fragile national economy. Environmental campaigners have long echoed this warning, noting that rampant oil theft and illegal refining are responsible for widespread, long-lasting ecological damage across the Niger Delta, destroying fishing grounds and contaminating drinking water supplies for local communities.

    In recent years, Nigeria’s federal government has ramped up security operations targeting illegal oil theft networks across the region. Speaking on Thursday to Nigerian broadcaster Channels TV, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, director of naval information, issued a stark warning to oil thieves: that there is no safe hiding place for criminal actors across the Niger Delta’s waterways and coastal areas, which are continuously patrolled by the Nigerian Navy. “Their days are numbered, and if we catch you, of course, we’ll ensure that you face the law,” Folorunsho said.

    Alongside expanded Nigerian Navy maritime patrols, the Nigerian military and other security agencies have carried out repeated raids on illegal oil theft operations and refineries, where criminal groups often exploit the region’s dense, remote mangrove forests to avoid detection.

    The crackdown on oil theft comes as Nigeria works to reverse years of declining production caused by rampant theft, widespread insecurity, and chronic underinvestment in the country’s oil sector. The government has set an ambitious target to boost national oil production to roughly three million barrels per day by 2030, a goal that relies heavily on improved security in the Niger Delta and broad regulatory reforms to attract much-needed foreign direct investment to the sector.

  • ‘A rare moment of joy’: Nepal tunnel rescues give hope for more flood survivors

    ‘A rare moment of joy’: Nepal tunnel rescues give hope for more flood survivors

    A devastating natural disaster that swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region left more than 1,300 people dead, countless communities shattered, and hundreds more missing after catastrophic flash floods hit the area over a week ago. In the midst of widespread grief and despair that has engulfed the affected region, a stunning and rare moment of good news has emerged: two survivors trapped in a tunnel have been pulled out alive more than seven days after the floodwaters rushed through the area.

    This unexpected successful rescue operation has sparked a renewed wave of optimism among search and rescue teams, who have been working around the clock in difficult, debris-strewn conditions to locate additional flood survivors still unaccounted for. The disaster, which unfolded rapidly when sudden, heavy rainfall triggered raging flash floods and landslides along the shared border, left local authorities scrambling to coordinate large-scale relief efforts amid damaged infrastructure and cut-off access to remote areas.

    Rescue workers had faced enormous challenges in reaching trapped populations, with washed-out roads and continuing unstable terrain slowing their progress for days. When teams managed to extract the two survivors from the tunnel, where they had survived for more than a week without formal outside assistance, the breakthrough gave rescuers new motivation to continue their search, with many now holding out hope that more people can be found alive against all odds. The international community has already offered support to Nepal’s government in its relief and recovery efforts, as the country begins to count the enormous human and economic cost of one of the deadliest natural disasters it has faced in recent years.

  • Nepal rescuers try to reach dozens trapped in tunnel after two found alive

    Nepal rescuers try to reach dozens trapped in tunnel after two found alive

    Nine days after catastrophic glacial-triggered flash floods swept through a Himalayan valley straddling the Nepal-China Tibet border, Nepalese rescue teams are continuing frantic operations to locate dozens of workers trapped inside hydropower construction tunnels, with renewed optimism sparked by two successful live extractions on Friday.

    The disaster, which unfolded on August 26, is one of the deadliest mountain hazard events in the region in recent decades. Preliminary investigations point to a sudden glacial collapse as the root cause, with climate scientists warning that rising global temperatures have increasingly increased glacial instability across the Himalayan region. The collapse unleashed a massive surging wall of water and debris that roared downstream, flattening entire villages, destroying critical infrastructure, and sweeping away roads, bridges, and heavy construction equipment. As of the latest update, the combined confirmed death toll across Nepal and Tibet stands at 1,311, with another 5,330 people still listed as missing. Hundreds of these missing individuals are foreign citizens hailing from at least 34 different nations.

    On Friday, rescuers working at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project, one of seven active tunnel sites where more than 150 people are feared trapped, detected faint sounds from deep inside the blocked tunnel. After calling out to potential survivors, crews received a quiet response of “okay,” prompting an urgent extraction effort. Two workers, Sanjaya Shah and Kabir Maharjan, were pulled from the tunnel alive, though both sustained hand and leg injuries consistent with crawling through debris-choked passageways. The two men were immediately airlifted to Kathmandu’s Army Hospital for urgent care: Maharjan remains in critical condition, while Shah is undergoing ongoing medical assessment. Hours after the successful rescue, teams recovered the body of a third victim from the same tunnel, which was too swollen to be immediately identified. Officials estimate that another 39 people may still be trapped in the Trishuli 3A tunnel, though there is no confirmation that any additional survivors remain alive.

    Across the affected region in Nepal, more than 400 Nepali citizens and 270 foreign nationals have been pulled from flood-hit areas by rescue teams, according to Colonel Jhabindra Reshmi. Progress reaching trapped tunnel workers has been severely hampered by massive accumulations of mud and rock that block existing entrances, forcing crews to dig new access holes by hand and with limited heavy equipment. Engineers have been pumping oxygen into the blocked tunnels to sustain any potential survivors, but much of the construction machinery needed to clear debris was washed away in the initial flood, slowing rescue work significantly.

    Despite the immense challenges, the successful rescue of the two workers has lifted morale among response teams. Uttam Bhlon Lama, vice president of the Independent Power Producers of Nepal, told the BBC that the extraction would motivate crews to redouble their efforts. Still, major hazards remain: flood levels across the region remain high, and Nepalese authorities have issued new warnings forecasting additional rainfall that could trigger secondary flash floods.

    Across the border in Tibet, the full scale of the disaster remains unclear. Chinese state media has released footage showing widespread devastation, but has released limited details on victims and local impact. As of Friday, official reports from China confirm 31 deaths and 531 people missing, and emergency response teams in Tibet have shifted their focus to assisting displaced survivors rather than continuing search operations for additional survivors.

    While the exact sequence of the glacial collapse is still under scientific investigation, experts from the Asian Mountain Academic Alliance, the Stimson Centre, and China’s Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment note that growing glacial instability was detected in the days leading up to the event. The group has argued that more robust early warning systems could have reduced the death toll, highlighting gaps in hazard preparedness across a region increasingly vulnerable to climate change-driven glacial disasters.

  • China exerts tight grip on information after floods

    China exerts tight grip on information after floods

    Over a week has passed since catastrophic flash floods swept across the China-Nepal border, leaving a devastating trail of death and disruption that has now claimed more than 1,000 lives and left over 4,500 people unaccounted for across both nations. What stands out most in the wake of this natural disaster is the starkly contrasting approach to information transparency between the two neighboring countries, drawing new attention to long-standing patterns of information control in China around major crisis events.

    On Nepal’s side of the shared border, disaster response communications have aligned with open governance norms. Nepali authorities have released frequent, granular updates on fatalities and missing persons, maintaining a public, searchable online registry that tracks survivors and those lost to the floods. Independent domestic and international journalists have been granted near-unrestricted access to hard-hit areas, with only basic accreditation requirements in place. Reporters have been allowed to visit temporary aid camps for survivors, document mass burial sites, and film rescue operations, including harrowing footage of mud-caked survivors pulled from hydropower tunnels by helicopter crews.

    Grieving families have been able to share their stories publicly, conduct symbolic burial rites, and organize independent searches for missing loved ones, giving a human face to the disaster that has been largely absent from coverage on the Chinese side.

    The contrast with China’s side of the border, where the disaster impacted Tibet Autonomous Region, could not be sharper. As of the most recent update released late Wednesday, Chinese authorities report 21 deaths and 541 missing people in Tibet, including 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries. Official updates are released only every few days, and access to the disaster zone has been restricted exclusively to China’s top state-run media outlets: Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV).
    Unlike Nepal’s open reporting, state media coverage has centered almost entirely on official disaster relief logistics rather than the human cost of the flood. Programming has highlighted rescue workers’ heroism, President Xi Jinping’s directives for relief efforts, and technical analysis of the glacial lake outburst that caused the floods. Names and personal stories of victims and their families have been almost entirely excluded from official coverage, and independent sources confirm that non-state journalists across China have been ordered not to conduct interviews with victim families, and to only republish official Xinhua material. The Associated Press, among other international news outlets, requested access to the affected areas shortly after the disaster struck but has yet to receive approval to enter.

    This tight information control is particularly pronounced in Tibet, a region that has been marked by heavy government surveillance and restricted access for foreigners and journalists since China asserted control over the area in 1951. Even for accredited foreign journalists working elsewhere in China, travel to Tibet requires special government approval, and cross-border communications for Tibetans are heavily monitored.

    Beyond restricting reporting, Chinese authorities have moved to punish social media users who have questioned the official narrative around the disaster. Tibetan cyber police have publicly announced 10 cases of people detained or fined for “spreading online rumors” related to the flood, with penalties ranging from 5 to 10 days of police detention and fines up to approximately $150. Many of these cases involved posts questioning the low official death toll, including one that noted the poster estimated at least 1,000 people had been killed, contradicting an early official count of just three dead.

    This pattern of delayed and incremental updates to disaster death tolls is not unprecedented in China. In July 2024, for example, authorities waited more than a month to revise the official death toll for severe typhoon flooding in Guangxi Province, raising it from 39 initially to 159.

    For families of missing Chinese victims, the lack of official transparency has forced them to turn to rare independent channels outside of Chinese government control to share their loved ones’ stories. One such outlet, the exile-based independent Chinese media Aquarian, has interviewed relatives of missing victims including Peng Guangming, a young worker on a Chinese-backed highway project on Nepal’s side of the border, who lost contact with colleagues just 10 minutes before the flood hit. Another missing person, He Hongrong, was last seen waiting to cross back into Tibet from Nepal, carrying a green backpack and en route to Lhasa. Her family has shared her photograph via the independent X account Fat Parrot, which reposts content from Chinese social media, in the hopes of finding new information about her whereabouts.

    The differing approaches to disaster information between the two countries have underscored how China’s system of state-controlled media and internet regulation shapes public access to information during crises, leaving critical details about the disaster’s impact on the Chinese side still unknown more than a week after the floodwaters first surged.

  • Serbia faces EU scrutiny over upcoming funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic

    Serbia faces EU scrutiny over upcoming funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic

    As Serbia prepares to lay to rest former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic — a convicted genocide perpetrator whose legacy continues to split the Balkans decades after the 1992-1995 Bosnian war — European Union officials have framed the coming days as a critical test of Belgrade’s commitment to European values amid its stalled bid for EU membership.

    Mladic, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 by a United Nations war crimes tribunal for overseeing some of the worst atrocities on European soil since World War II, died last week in a Dutch hospital at the age of 84. His remains were flown back to Serbia on a government-owned aircraft Thursday, triggering immediate international backlash over plans for official state honors at his funeral.

    Upon the plane’s landing in Belgrade, Mladic’s casket was draped in Serbia’s national flag, carried by uniformed Serbian army soldiers to a waiting van, and escorted through the capital to a military hospital. Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic accompanied Mladic’s family on the repatriation flight, while crowds of nationalist supporters lit flares as the funeral cortege passed through the city. Mladic’s son, Darko Mladic, confirmed public arrangements Friday: a military commemoration scheduled for Saturday, public lying-in-state at a central Belgrade church Monday morning, and a burial at a Belgrade cemetery later that day.

    Initial comments from Vujic confirming Mladic would receive full state funeral honors sparked outrage across the ethnically fragmented Balkan region, where scars from the 1992-1995 Bosnian war — which killed more than 100,000 people and displaced over a million — remain raw. This is not the first time Serbia has honored a convicted war criminal with official military recognition: just last year, former army chief of staff Nebojsa Pavkovic, also convicted of war crimes by the UN tribunal, was buried with full military honors at Belgrade’s cemetery for distinguished citizens.

    Despite its formal status as an EU accession candidate, Serbia has long remained defiant in its reckoning with wartime actions during the Bosnian conflict, where it backed Bosnian Serb separatist forces. Many Serbs across Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska still view Mladic as a national hero, and thousands held public vigils for him after his death, with large crowds expected to attend Monday’s burial. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a populist leader whose rule has overseen growing democratic backsliding and a freeze in EU accession talks, sought to distance himself from formal responsibility for the arrangements Friday, noting he had pre-scheduled official meetings for the day of the funeral.

    “I have spoken to the Mladic family and I wish it all passes in a dignified way,” Vucic told pro-government outlet Informer TV, adding “I did all I could so that the funeral would pass as it should” without elaborating on what actions he had taken. The EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos reiterated Friday that the bloc is closely watching every step of the process, calling the coming days “a very important test” for Belgrade.

    International criticism of the planned honors has mounted rapidly beyond the EU. Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty urged both Serbian and Bosnian Serb authorities Friday to crack down on the public glorification of convicted war criminals, noting that such glorification violates Bosnian law and is not protected as free speech under the European Convention on Human Rights.

    “I abhor the public glorification of Ratko Mladic, a deceased war criminal convicted for the Srebrenica genocide and crimes against humanity, including statements by officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity of Republika Srpska and in Serbia,” O’Flaherty said in an official statement. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot added that granting official funeral honors to Mladic would be “shameful and disrespectful for the victims,” saying he had already conveyed his strong condemnation to his Serbian counterpart responsible for European integration affairs.

    Mladic’s conviction centered on his role in three core wartime atrocities: the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the four-year siege of Sarajevo, and the systematic abuse of non-Serb civilians in wartime concentration camps. The Srebrenica massacre, in which Mladic’s forces overran a UN-declared safe haven for Bosnian Muslims and executed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, remains the only genocide legally recognized on European soil since World War II. Mass graves of Srebrenica victims are still being uncovered decades after the massacre, and survivors and victims’ families continue to push for full accountability for all those involved in the atrocities.

  • Body of world’s youngest traditional king returns home to Uganda amid succession row

    Body of world’s youngest traditional king returns home to Uganda amid succession row

    The repatriation of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV’s remains to Uganda has kicked off an official nine-day period of national and royal mourning, while also sparking an unprecedented public dispute over who will succeed the beloved traditional ruler. Aged 34, the 13th monarch of the Tooro Kingdom passed away last week in the United States while receiving treatment for an aggressive form of cancer, cutting short a decades-long reign that captured global attention from its very start.

    King Oyo made history in 1995 when he ascended the Tooro throne at just 3 years old following the death of his father, earning a place in the Guinness World Records as the world’s youngest reigning monarch. He was formally crowned when he turned 18 in 2010, and grew into a progressive leader who ruled over more than two million people in the Tooro Kingdom, a culturally significant traditional institution based in western Uganda that retains strong cultural influence despite holding no formal political power in the country’s elected constitutional system.

    On the day his remains touched down at Entebbe International Airport, top Ugandan political leaders including President Yoweri Museveni joined hundreds of royal mourners to pay their respects. After a short formal welcome ceremony at the airport, President Museveni laid a wreath on the king’s sealed coffin. The remains were then airlifted via military helicopter to Kyegegwa in western Uganda, before being transported by road to the Karuziika Royal Palace in Fort Portal, where Oyo’s body will lie in state for the full mourning period. Members of the public are welcome to visit the palace to pay their respects, with evening prayer services scheduled each night through the funeral.

    Across the country, tributes have poured in for the king, who was widely praised for his modernizing leadership and public advocacy. Uganda’s parliament held a special commemorative session last Thursday, where lawmakers from both the ruling party and opposition celebrated his work advancing access to education, expanding public health access, and creating economic opportunities for young Ugandans. Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja remembered him as a unifying national figure who led critical public awareness campaigns on HIV and AIDS for youth. Acting opposition leader Patrick Nsamba Oshabe echoed these sentiments, noting that King Oyo had successfully balanced respect for centuries-old cultural heritage with a commitment to national progress and development.

    In a mark of national respect, President Museveni has granted King Oyo an official state burial, and has ordered all national flags to fly at half-mast for three days leading up to the funeral. The service is scheduled for next Saturday, September 13 – the same date King Oyo had originally planned to mark the annual Empango celebration of his coronation, a dream he held until his final days. Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki revealed that the monarch had asked officials to conceal the severity of his illness, as he remained confident he would recover and return home to mark the occasion with his people.

    As the nation mourns, a growing public rift over succession has cast uncertainty over the future of the Tooro monarchy. Because King Oyo was never officially married, there had been no publicly named heir until Akiiki announced last week that the late king did leave behind a young son, whose identity will be revealed at a later date in line with traditional Tooro customs. President Museveni also confirmed that Oyo’s mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, had told him the king had an heir.

    However, the head of the Babiito royal clan – the hereditary clan from which all Tooro kings are drawn – has publicly stated he has no knowledge of any such child. Other senior clan members have echoed the skepticism, questioning how the royal family could be kept unaware of an heir while the kingdom’s prime minister claimed knowledge of the child. “The prime minister is not supposed to talk about the king’s heir. It is a cultural process,” one anonymous senior clan member told Uganda’s state-owned New Vision newspaper. “How can we, blood relatives, not know of the child, and the prime minister says he knows? That is totally out of order.”

    Akiiki has since called for the dispute to be resolved privately out of respect for the mourning period, warning that inflammatory words spoken in grief could deepen divisions that would take generations to repair. The Ugandan national government has also stepped in to urge calm, calling on the public and cultural leaders to avoid spreading unfounded speculation on social media. Culture Minister Henry Tumukunde noted that the entire world is watching Uganda as it mourns King Oyo, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and respect. He added that any succession disputes will be resolved in accordance with Uganda’s existing laws governing traditional and cultural leaders.

    In line with longstanding Tooro tradition, King Oyo’s funeral will follow strict ceremonial customs. A church service will be held at a local congregation ahead of the burial, before a traditional royal procession carries his remains to the Karambi Royal Tombs. All burial rites must be completed by 2 p.m. local time, as tradition forbids burying Tooro monarchs after sundown.

  • Russian attacks kill at least 3 in Ukraine as US talks on the war are expected

    Russian attacks kill at least 3 in Ukraine as US talks on the war are expected

    As the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters its third year of full-scale combat following Moscow’s 2022 invasion, the war has reached a new juncture marked by intensifying air strikes and renewed hints of high-level U.S.-brokered diplomatic efforts to end the fighting.

    Local Ukrainian officials confirmed Friday that a new wave of Russian attacks across the country overnight left at least three people dead and multiple others injured. In the southern Odesa region, one civilian was killed and five people, including a child, were wounded when a massive barrage hit multiple residential properties, including two multi-story apartment blocks, regional governor Oleh Kiper announced in a Telegram post. Two police officers were killed in overnight strikes in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, while a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Kyiv left three people injured.

    The escalation of air attacks marks a shift in Russian tactics: what previously were primarily overnight raids on civilian and infrastructure targets now regularly occur during daytime hours, leaving Ukrainian communities under near-constant threat. The ground front line across eastern and southern Ukraine remains largely stalemated, with neither side able to secure major territorial advances in recent months.

    In a parallel development that has drawn global attention, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Thursday in his nightly address that preliminary dates have been set for U.S. diplomatic envoys to hold meetings in both Moscow and Kyiv, with the Kyiv visit expected to take place in the coming days. Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine’s negotiation team maintains near-constant contact with U.S. counterparts and is actively preparing for the talks, stressing that sustained American diplomatic engagement is critical to advancing peace efforts. “This is very important. It is important that America remain actively engaged,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine is ready to hold substantive, high-level negotiations to end the conflict.

    Unconfirmed reports from Russian state news agency TASS emerged Friday identifying the U.S. envoys as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are scheduled to travel to Moscow first before arriving in Kyiv on September 5 and 6. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm the visit when asked by reporters Friday, saying only that the media would be notified officially if such a meeting is scheduled. U.S. officials have also not yet issued any public confirmation of the trip.

    Witkoff and Kushner previously traveled to Moscow in January 2026 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting that Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described as constructive at the time. However, Ushakov also acknowledged that “reaching a long-term settlement can’t be expected without solving the territorial issue,” a core sticking point that has blocked all previous negotiation efforts. Following that January meeting, diplomatic momentum stalled as the White House shifted its strategic focus to escalating tensions with Iran, leading Putin to describe the negotiation process as “frozen” during a public press conference this week. This upcoming trip would mark the first time the pair have visited Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion.

    The renewed push for diplomacy comes as cross-border strikes have escalated on both sides. On Friday, Russian regional officials reported that a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack hit the Black Sea resort city of Sochi and the adjacent Sirius district, igniting a major fire at an oil depot. Russian media outlets expanded on the report, noting two separate fuel storage facilities were hit, one in each location.

    Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, targeting oil facilities that form the backbone of Russia’s economy as one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters. Months of escalating Ukrainian strikes on refineries and key logistics hubs have caused widespread supply disruptions across Russia, growing economic pressure and mounting public frustration with the Kremlin’s failure to protect critical infrastructure. In response to the strikes, Putin issued a decree last month allowing the Russian state to temporarily seize control of critical infrastructure facilities if private owners fail to implement adequate security measures against drone attacks or refuse to rebuild damaged facilities. Independent analysts say the order is intended to force private energy and logistics companies to allocate more of their own funds to defensive measures and speed the return of damaged assets to operation, regardless of the financial cost to the firms.

    In a separate development related to the expanding spillover of the conflict, Finnish authorities announced Friday they are investigating the discovery of a Russian-manufactured drone that washed up on a rocky shoreline in the Pellinge archipelago, located east of the Finnish capital Helsinki. The Finnish Border Guard confirmed the drone appears to be a Geoscan 701, a model produced by one of Russia’s leading domestic drone manufacturers. The model is marketed for large-scale aerial surveying work and is used by both Russian state and civilian operators, the border guard noted, adding that it is too early to determine who was operating the drone or what its intended mission was.

    A local fisherman, Peter Kellgren, discovered the drone on Tuesday, telling state broadcaster Yle that the craft was found in open waters and appeared to have drifted ashore from another location.

    This report includes contributions from Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, and is part of ongoing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict from The Associated Press.