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  • Analysis: Trump’s global headaches worsen weeks before crucial elections

    Analysis: Trump’s global headaches worsen weeks before crucial elections

    Weeks before pivotal congressional elections that will determine which party controls the US legislature, and with early voting already underway in key battleground states, incumbent President Donald Trump has turned to a surprising partner – Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin – in a last-ditch bid to ease sky-high diesel prices that have eroded his approval ratings among American voters.

    The political gambit quickly unraveled, however, leaving global leaders scrambling to respond and failing to deliver the quick energy price relief Trump had promised voters. The turbulent sequence of events began on a Friday afternoon, when Trump made an unexpected announcement: he had struck a new agreement with Putin that would bring hundreds of millions of tons of Russian diesel to the United States over the coming months.

    For months, soaring energy costs – particularly diesel prices, which are critical to Midwestern agricultural states that depend on the fuel to power farm equipment and transport crops to market – have been a major source of voter discontent. Polling shows a majority of American voters blame the ongoing US-Iran war for driving up energy costs, and Trump’s overall approval ratings, as well as his support on handling the war and the national economy, have plummeted in recent weeks.

    Framing the deal as a win for working Americans, Trump took to his social platform Truth Social to herald the agreement, and immediately issued an order to the US Treasury Department to suspend existing sanctions that blocked Russian diesel from entering global markets. Just two days later, he returned to the same platform to boast of a new “energy ceasefire” agreement between Russia and Ukraine that he claimed would stabilize global energy markets.

    The reality of the situation, however, proved far more complex than Trump’s announcements suggested. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that his administration had received no advance warning of the so-called ceasefire, even as he noted Ukraine would respect the proposed truce if it were honored. Russia, for its part, issued no public confirmation of the agreement – and by Sunday night, Russian forces had launched a new wave of missile strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

    “It’s clear that Putin does not read Truth Social,” Zelensky joked dryly in comments to reporters on Monday, adding that Ukraine would take proportional action if Russia refused to uphold the energy truce through the coming winter.

    Tensions between Trump and Zelensky have run high throughout Trump’s second term in office. The US president has flip-flopped on blame for the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which he repeatedly claimed during his 2024 campaign he could end in days if he returned to the White House. In recent days, Zelensky has become the primary target of Trump’s anger, as Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refining infrastructure have worsen global supply shortages and kept fuel prices high.

    Over the weekend, Trump told reporters at the White House that it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president,” and both the Financial Times and CNN have independently confirmed that the Trump administration has threatened to cut off all arms sales and intelligence sharing to Ukraine if Zelensky does not halt attacks on Russian energy facilities. “Zelensky better damn well stop,” Trump told reporters.

    Terry Haines, founder of independent policy think tank Pangaea Policy, told the BBC that the president’s outburst aligned with a long pattern of public behavior. “I think that the president has a decade long public record of lashing out at people who aren’t doing what he wants, when and how he wants to do it,” Haines explained.

    This premature announcement of an unsealed agreement is far from unprecedented for Trump: the president has a well-documented history of touting diplomatic breakthroughs – from Middle East ceasefires to sweeping regional peace deals – before negotiations have been finalized. Whether the rushed announcement stems from Trump’s well-known impatience with slow diplomatic progress or a calculated negotiating tactic to force parties to finalize a deal, the result has been widespread global uncertainty and confusion.

    International pushback against the deals arrived quickly. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has emerged as one of Trump’s most outspoken international critics, offered tentative support for the proposed energy ceasefire but condemned the Russian diesel deal as a major blow to European security. Carney argued the agreement would directly help Russia finance its “illegal, unjustifiable war against Ukraine.”

    Even inside the United States, the announcement drew significant criticism – including from members of Trump’s own Republican Party. Four Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues to sign a public letter calling on Trump to immediately reverse his decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel. “Congress explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022 to prevent American dollars from financing Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine,” the senators wrote in their Sunday statement. “President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the US runs directly counter to that law.”

    Worse for Trump politically, the much-hyped agreements have so far failed to move the needle on diesel prices, which remain well above $6 per gallon – down from record highs set earlier this year, but still far higher than most American consumers can afford. At the same time, new violence in the Middle East threatens to upend any modest progress on energy prices regardless of the situation in Ukraine.

    Over the weekend, Houthi forces launched a wave of attacks on targets inside Saudi Arabia, including strikes on civilian airports and energy infrastructure that killed at least 13 people. The attacks have threatened to escalate a decade-long regional conflict that has been simmering throughout the ongoing US-Iran war, raising fears of a broader regional conflict that could disrupt global oil supplies.

    Michael Ratney, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told the BBC the strikes carried a clear, alarming message. “This is the Houthis sending a message that it’s not just military targets, it’s not just energy infrastructure, they’re going to strike at civilian airports that could kill a lot of people,” Ratney explained. He added that the ongoing US-Iran conflict was unwanted by every Arab nation in the region, and the latest Houthi offensive was a predictable outcome of the ongoing standoff between Washington and Tehran.

    With the US and Iran locked in a prolonged military and diplomatic standoff, any new escalation in hostilities could easily trigger a broader regional war and send global oil prices soaring to new record highs. “I do think it gets uglier before it really deescalates,” Ratney warned.

    In recent weeks, Trump has attempted to shift blame for global energy shortages onto Ukraine, rather than the ongoing conflict with Iran – a framing that many analysts view as an attempt to deflect voter anger onto a conflict that began during the previous presidential administration. But political analysts note that American voters almost always hold the sitting president responsible for economic conditions, regardless of past policy decisions.

    After a chaotic weekend that once again demonstrated there are no quick, easy fixes to the ongoing global energy crisis, that political reality may be the worst possible news for Trump and his party ahead of the upcoming congressional elections.

  • Qantas flight grounded after bedbug outbreak

    Qantas flight grounded after bedbug outbreak

    A major incident has disrupted Qantas Airways’ international operations, forcing the Australian flag carrier to scrap a Saturday flight connecting Rome, Italy and Perth, Australia after passengers reported a bedbug infestation on the aircraft during an earlier trip. According to local Australian outlet the Sydney Morning Herald, the infestation was first flagged by travelers on the plane’s prior voyage: a 17-hour non-stop service from Perth to Rome operated on Friday. Multiple passengers on that flight told the airline they had sustained bites from the pests, and the cabin crew distributed antihistamines to relieve the discomfort of itchy bite marks – only to run out of the medication mid-journey as more passengers reported issues.

    Following the confirmation of bedbugs in a small section of the aircraft’s economy cabin, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet was immediately taken out of active service to undergo a thorough deep cleaning and disinfection process, a Qantas spokesperson confirmed in an official statement to the BBC.

    “We sincerely apologise to customers for the cancellation of Saturday’s Rome to Perth service, which allowed our engineers and maintenance teams to carry out a deep clean of the aircraft after an issue was identified on a small number of economy seats,” the spokesperson said.

    The airline added that all passengers who were impacted by the last-minute cancellation received complimentary hotel accommodation and were rebooked onto alternate replacement flights within 48 hours of their originally scheduled departure.

    For context, bedbugs are tiny, wingless parasites that can easily hitch a ride on fabrics including clothing, luggage, upholstery and bedding. While their bites typically cause only itching and do not carry life-threatening diseases, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) notes that infestations are notoriously costly and challenging to fully eliminate. Standard eradication protocols include washing all contaminated fabrics on high heat cycles followed by tumble drying, or freezing items at sub-zero temperatures in sealed plastic bags for 72 to 96 hours.

    This is far from the first time bedbug sightings have caused widespread disruption to global transport operations. Less than two weeks before the Qantas incident, multiple commuter train services run by UK operator Southeastern were cancelled after drivers found the pests in train driver cabs. In 2017, British Airways issued a public apology to a family traveling from Vancouver to London after the entire group developed extensive bug bites during their overnight flight. Most recently last year, Turkish Airlines faced a major public relations crisis after The New York Times documented multiple separate bedbug infestation incidents across the airline’s fleet, with reports that the carrier failed to address the issues when they were first reported.

  • Pupil arrested after two teachers shot at French school

    Pupil arrested after two teachers shot at French school

    On a Monday morning in southern France, a shocking act of school violence left two school staff injured and triggered an immediate law enforcement and government response, after a 14-year-old student opened fire on campus at Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, a small city roughly 11 miles east of Marseille.

    Regional officials confirmed to local French media that the teenage suspect entered the school grounds carrying a shotgun hidden inside a guitar case. After opening fire on school personnel, the boy was quickly subdued by a brave member of the school’s staff before any further harm could be done to the school’s 600-plus student body.

    Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari confirmed that no students were harmed in the incident, and the two injured teachers are receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening wounds. Detailed accounts from Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone outline that the 53-year-old principal suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and lower back, while a 37-year-old teacher was hit in the thigh. A third individual on campus sustained minor injuries, and students and staff in adjacent areas of the school escaped physical harm but reported severe psychological distress.

    After the initial shooting on the school’s first floor, Bessone said the suspect moved to the second floor where he fired two additional rounds: one at the floor in front of a third teacher, and a second inside an occupied classroom that struck a chalkboard. No one was hit in these rounds, though the people present left the encounter deeply shaken. The teenager was eventually restrained in a school corridor and taken into police custody.

    In a post-incident update shared on social media, Squillari noted that all students were placed in immediate lockdown and secured within seconds of the first shots being fired. On-site psychological support services were activated immediately to help students and staff process the traumatic event. Squillari told reporters that most students did not witness the shooting directly, as it unfolded in a school hallway, but many still showed signs of psychological distress that are being addressed by mental health professionals. He added that the suspect was a regular student at the school, and the only known pre-incident contact was a meeting request the boy’s father had submitted to the school’s educational advisor, with no further context available as of Monday.

    Two student witnesses told French broadcaster BFMTV they encountered the suspect just after the shooting began, when a fire alarm pulled them into the hallway. The students said the teenager was roughly a meter away from them carrying a hunting rifle, fired a round into the ground, and followed the group briefly as they fled the hallway screaming.

    French law enforcement officials have launched an attempted murder investigation into the shooting. Local police sources told regional media the incident is not linked to the ongoing national protests over poor school infrastructure and working conditions in the French education system. After searching the suspect’s family home, law enforcement recovered a cache of weapons and took both of the boy’s parents into custody, a fact later confirmed by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.

    During an on-site visit Monday alongside Education Minister Édouard Geffray, Nunez announced that the school would remain closed to all students on Tuesday to allow for investigative work and mental health support for affected staff. French President Emmanuel Macron issued a public statement extending his full solidarity and support to the shaken school community, praising the quick, calm response of the school’s educational team that prevented what could have been a far deadlier outcome.

    Geffray echoed Macron’s remarks in a social media post, calling the shooting an unacceptable act of violence that underscores a growing trend of unregulated violence in French society, an issue that requires collective action from all sectors of the nation.

  • Why Moscow is staying tight-lipped on Trump’s energy ceasefire

    Why Moscow is staying tight-lipped on Trump’s energy ceasefire

    On Sunday, former U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement that Russia and Ukraine had reached a ceasefire agreement targeting strikes on energy infrastructure, set to take effect “effective immediately.” The announcement has since sparked widespread confusion, as neither Moscow nor Kyiv have confirmed the deal in full, leaving the status of the proposed truce unclear.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the news with noticeable skepticism, telling reporters it was “news for me” that had not been communicated to his administration through official channels. Ukrainian officials have since clarified that Kyiv would be willing to abide by such a ceasefire if Russia formally agrees to it, but no binding agreement has been finalized to date.

    Russia has remained publicly silent on Trump’s announcement, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov only confirming that behind-the-scenes contacts are ongoing. “As soon as we have anything to say about this, we will definitely inform you,” Peskov told journalists during a daily press briefing, offering no further details.

    While official Russian comment has been scarce, pro-Kremlin state media has framed Trump’s announcement as an unanticipated win for Moscow. Leading pro-government newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets argued that the proposed ceasefire amounts to a one-sided agreement that benefits Russia alone. The outlet noted that Ukraine has already lost most of its operational oil refining capacity to repeated Russian strikes, so a halt on attacks would leave Ukraine with little left for Russia to target. By contrast, the ceasefire would prevent Ukraine from continuing its recent campaign of long-range drone strikes that have caused extensive damage to Russian oil facilities and worsened domestic fuel shortages across Russia. “In effect it’s a one-way deal that benefits us. That’s why no one here has officially rejected it,” the newspaper concluded.

    Russian officials are already positioning to leverage Trump’s announcement for political gain, indicating that if Ukraine continues its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, they will frame the attacks as harmful to U.S. economic interests and damaging to the Republican Party’s prospects in November’s midterm elections. They also plan to argue that continued Ukrainian attacks violate the recent fuel trade agreement between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that allows U.S. imports of Russian diesel. While Trump has claimed the deal will lower fuel prices for American consumers, many analysts remain skeptical that the import volumes will be large enough to make any meaningful difference.

    The Kremlin has made clear that it sees political advantage in Trump’s announcement, hoping that continued Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities will stoke friction in Washington and lead to cuts in U.S. intelligence sharing with Kyiv and reduced arms supplies to Ukraine. Moscow has already welcomed Trump’s recent statement that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” which aligns with the Kremlin’s goal of undermining Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.

    This latest ceasefire uncertainty comes amid Zelenskyy’s recent call for a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to hold its scheduled presidential elections. Russia has rejected this proposal outright. Peskov reiterated that the Kremlin claims to seek “lasting peace” but has repeatedly stated that it will not accept even a temporary cessation of hostilities. On Monday, Moscow only offered a token one-day ceasefire to allow elections, an offer that has been widely dismissed by both Kyiv and the West as a non-serious public relations stunt.

    Analysts say the rejection of a meaningful ceasefire aligns with Putin’s long-stated objectives in Ukraine. With winter approaching, the Kremlin is counting on a renewed campaign of strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure to ratchet up pressure on Kyiv, and Russian officials have made clear they have no intention of granting Ukraine any reprieve. On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explicitly stated that Ukraine does not deserve the “respite” that a ceasefire would bring.

    Just hours before Trump’s announcement, Zelenskyy confirmed that Russian forces had already launched new strikes on multiple energy targets across Ukraine overnight. Pro-Kremlin media has openly stated that Moscow’s goal is to use winter pressure to “knock Ukraine back to the Stone Age” and force it to accept peace on Russian terms. The Kremlin’s core objective remains unchanged: the full capitulation of Ukraine. Moscow believes that the recent diesel deal with the U.S. and Trump’s growing public impatience with Zelenskyy will help it achieve this goal faster.

  • Netanyahu seeks criminal charges for NAZA participants

    Netanyahu seeks criminal charges for NAZA participants

    On Sunday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a formal announcement that the sitting premier has requested a trio of top Israeli security and legal officials to launch an urgent criminal investigation into all individuals involved in the award-winning documentary *NAZA*, a film that has ignited intense political firestorm just weeks ahead of Israel’s national election on October 27.

    Netanyahu’s directive went out to Israel’s Army Chief Eyal Zamir, Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency head David Zini, and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, with instructions to immediately identify every person who participated in or appeared on camera for the project, which the prime minister has labeled a “libelous film.” In his official letter to the three leaders, Netanyahu pushed for full criminal investigation and potential prosecution, laying out three core accusations: severe breaches of Israeli information security laws, criminal defamation, and tangible harm to Israel’s diplomatic and national security interests.

    The prime minister further claimed the documentary spreads systemic, false and misleading defamation against Israel and its armed forces, arguing that it has inflicted severe damage to the country’s international reputation. He also raised alarms that participants may have exposed top-secret intelligence related to Israel’s elite 8200 intelligence unit, creating a critical vulnerability in the country’s sensitive information security infrastructure.

    Directed by two Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, *NAZA* centers its investigation on the artificial intelligence systems that Israel has deployed to carry out its military campaign in Gaza, with a specific focus on the film’s findings that these tools have enabled mass civilian casualties among Palestinian residents of the enclave. The film draws on firsthand testimony from 24 anonymous current and former Israeli military and intelligence insiders, grounding its claims in insider expertise that has made the work particularly controversial within Israeli political circles.

    The controversy has already split public and political opinion in Israel. Palestinian political analyst Muhammad Shehada pointed out on social media platform X that Netanyahu’s push for a formal investigation inadvertently validates the film’s core claims. He noted that while Israeli officials initially dismissed *NAZA* as a manufactured hoax, the prime minister’s current stance that the documentary exposed classified information directly contradicts that earlier denial.

    Political context adds extra layers to Netanyahu’s aggressive response to the film. As the prime minister campaigns for a historic sixth term in office, recent polling shows he is currently trailing opposition candidate and former army chief Gadi Eisenkot. Netanyahu has positioned *NAZA* as a central wedge issue in his re-election bid, launching repeated public attacks on the documentary in campaign appearances. On Sunday, Israeli media published leaked WhatsApp messages from Yonatan Urich, one of Netanyahu’s closest senior advisors, that revealed right-wing Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal advised the prime minister’s campaign to exploit the *NAZA* controversy for political gain.

    Since *NAZA* took home the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival last month, it has faced relentless backlash from across Israel’s political establishment, far-right activist groups, and media figures. Filmmakers Abraham and Szor have been publicly accused of treason, and senior officials have called for extreme measures against them. Last month, Army Chief Zamir already ordered military legal teams to pursue action against the filmmakers and the anonymous soldiers who gave on-the-record interviews for the project. The Israeli military also published a lengthy 17-page official rebuttal, arguing that the film falsely frames the Israeli military as intentionally targeting civilian populations in Gaza.

    Netanyahu and Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar have gone as far as to call for Abraham and Szor to be stripped of their Israeli citizenship. Just last week, Zohur personally called on Shin Bet chief Zini to open an investigation into unsubstantiated claims that Abraham has ties to Hamas. In an interview with The Guardian’s *Stateside* podcast, Szor described the widespread backlash within Israel as deeply unsettling. Far-right protesters has already gathered outside the central Israeli home of Szor’s parents, holding demonstrations where they chanted calls for the two directors to be hanged for treason. Despite the threats, Szor pushed back on the criticism, noting that the film was made to spark necessary public conversation, and that the project has drawn meaningful support from a small segment of Israeli society that opposes the country’s long-standing policies toward Palestinians.

  • Abramovich’s close associate misled UK court in £1bn oil-fields case, documents suggest

    Abramovich’s close associate misled UK court in £1bn oil-fields case, documents suggest

    A bombshell leak of financial documents tied to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has uncovered new allegations that one of his long-time closest associates deliberately misled a UK High Court during a high-stakes 2008 legal battle over ownership of lucrative Siberian oil reserves, a joint investigation by the BBC Panorama program and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed.

    The accusations center on Eugene Tenenbaum, a former board director of Chelsea Football Club who at the time of the 2008 trial served as a key manager of Abramovich’s sprawling global fortune. The legal dispute pitted Abramovich against a rival Russian billionaire, Chalva Tchigirinsky, whose UK-registered firm Sibir Energy PLC controlled a Russian subsidiary named Yugraneft. Yugraneft held the official extraction licenses for the contested oil fields, while Abramovich’s energy giant Sibneft contributed capital to the joint venture, dubbed Sibneft-Yugra. The partnership collapsed into bitter acrimony after Sibir Energy’s 50% stake in the project was unexpectedly diluted to less than 1%, a change the firm claimed was carried out without its knowledge or consent.

    After failed legal attempts to challenge the dilution in Russian and British Virgin Islands courts, Tchigirinsky’s team brought the case to London’s High Court in 2008. Yugraneft’s legal team argued it had been the victim of a massive, orchestrated fraud orchestrated by Abramovich that caused at least $2 billion in damages. Abramovich’s legal team countered that Yugraneft had defaulted on more than $30 million in outstanding loans, legally forfeiting its right to the joint venture shares. In the end, Abramovich won the case on multiple grounds, including a ruling that Yugraneft’s lawsuit constituted an abuse of court process.

    The newly uncovered evidence comes from a massive leak of internal documents detailing Abramovich’s finances and the operations of his network of Cyprus-based offshore companies, spanning the years 1995 to 2022. This leak is the core of the ongoing Cyprus Confidential investigation, led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and reported by a global coalition of media outlets including the BBC, the Guardian, Paper Trail Media, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network. Earlier reporting from the investigation already revealed that global accounting giant Deloitte assisted in falsifying documents to hide Abramovich’s wealth and evade tax obligations.

    During the 2008 High Court proceedings, Yugraneft’s legal team pushed to establish that Tenenbaum, who was based in the UK at the time, must have been fully aware of the plan to dilute the subsidiary’s stake. In his sworn testimony, Tenenbaum denied all knowledge of the deal, telling the court he only first learned of Sibneft-Yugra in spring 2004. He added that he had conducted a thorough search of all his personal and professional files, emails and records spanning 2002 to 2004, and found no documentation related to the joint venture.

    The leaked documents directly contradict this testimony. Records show that Tenenbaum explicitly approved Abramovich’s purchase of Sibneft-Yugra shares in October 2003 – five months before he claimed he first learned of the venture’s existence. Just two months after that first approval, he signed off on a second separate financial transaction directly tied to the joint venture. Tenenbaum also held final sign-off authority for nearly all of Abramovich’s major business deals during this period, the records confirm.

    Andrew Mitchell KC, a leading expert in UK financial services law, told Panorama that if Tenenbaum’s 2008 testimony is proven false, the consequences would be severe. False testimony in a High Court case could range from charges of perjury and contempt of court to an allegation of attempted perversion of the course of justice, Mitchell explained.

    In response to the investigation’s questions, lawyers for Tenenbaum reiterated that their client “denies in the strongest terms any suggestion that he committed perjury or contempt of court”. They added that Tenenbaum gave his testimony honestly and in good faith, and that he cannot recall the context or specific details of documents dating back more than 20 years. Lawyers for Abramovich have likewise stated that their client denies all allegations made against him.

    While the 2008 trial judge explicitly ruled that even if Tenenbaum had prior knowledge of the deal, it would not have changed his final ruling in Abramovich’s favor, the leaked documents raise additional red flags about evidence submitted to the court. The investigation found that at least one key agreement dated August 2003, which was presented as evidence by Abramovich’s legal team, was not actually created or signed until 2007.

    Abramovich’s legal team argued during the trial that the dilution of Yugraneft’s stake was necessary to secure new financing for the joint venture, claiming Tchigirinsky had first approached Abramovich about new financing arrangements in spring 2002 – a claim Tchigirinsky has always denied. The leaked documents show that as early as January 2002, months before that alleged approach, Abramovich’s Russian associates had already prepared full documentation for the share acquisition that would dilute Yugraneft’s stake and expand Abramovich’s ownership. This indicates the dilution was premeditated long before the financing justification presented in court, making that argument a deliberate cover for the planned takeover.

    In their formal response to the new allegations, Abramovich’s lawyers noted that the 2008 judgement made no finding that the dilution was premeditated or fraudulent. They added that the judge ruled Abramovich never received any property that belonged to Yugraneft, and no Yugraneft assets could be traced to his possession.

  • Fridges in French supermarkets hit by cyber attack

    Fridges in French supermarkets hit by cyber attack

    In a brazen and unprecedented cyber attack that has sent shockwaves through France’s food retail sector, hundreds of supermarket locations across the country have fallen victim to hackers who deliberately compromised temperature control systems for cold storage units, leading to massive food spoilage and potential multi-million euro losses.

    The attack targeted outdated remote temperature management software developed by Danish engineering firm Danfoss, which is widely used by major French grocery chains to regulate refrigerators and freezers across their store networks. Hackers were able to seize full control of the systems, forcing cold units to rise to dangerous, warm temperatures over an extended period rather than the brief, controlled temperature increase that happens during standard overnight defrost cycles.

    According to official statements from affected retailers, Intermarché and its discount brand Netto reported disruptions at 180 stores, with an additional 100 locations hastily disconnected from the internet as a preemptive protective measure. Coopérative U CEO Dominique Schelcher described the incident as “extremely serious and unprecedented,” confirming that more than 100 of the chain’s outlets were targeted. Other major national retailers including Carrefour, Monoprix, and E.Leclerc also confirmed breaches: Carrefour reported 80 of its 6,000 French stores were affected, while roughly 5% of Monoprix’s 400-plus locations suffered attacks.

    Across affected locations, temperatures inside freezers and refrigerated display cases climbed as high as 50°C (120°F) and held at that level for up to six hours overnight into Monday, according to Intermarché representatives. When store managers arrived for opening on Monday morning, they were greeted by blasts of hot air pouring from malfunctioning cold units, with some locations even reporting small electrical fires sparked by the overheating systems. Two stores in the Alsace region alone have already reported combined losses of €270,000, leading industry observers to project that total nationwide losses could reach millions of euros. All spoiled fresh and frozen products have been discarded to avoid public health risks, and some display units remained out of service as of Monday afternoon, with stores working to restock shelves quickly.

    Danfoss later confirmed that the compromised systems were older model refrigeration units whose security software could not be updated to patch a previously identified vulnerability. The company noted that it had “long advised” businesses operating outdated, unsupported infrastructure to upgrade their systems to maintain security, adding that it is committed to supporting affected customers as they work to restore operations.

    To date, around 400 stores out of the roughly 15,000 total supermarkets operating across France have been confirmed affected, though authorities note the full scale of the breach is still being assessed. French national prosecutors have launched a formal cyber-crime investigation into the incident, which the Paris prosecutor’s office has labeled a “large-scale cyber-attack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France.”

    The attack has already drawn international attention, with European Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen condemning the hack on social media platform X, warning that “Food security requires more attention at all levels. Because the weaponisation of food has become a reality.” Coopérative U CEO Schelcher echoed that condemnation, saying that targeting critical infrastructure tied to the nation’s food supply is “unacceptable” and calling for a full, thorough investigation into the breach. Store teams across the country remain fully mobilized alongside refrigeration and cybersecurity specialists to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

  • ‘Except Mecca and Medina’: Chaos across Saudi airports as Houthis claim Riyadh strikes

    ‘Except Mecca and Medina’: Chaos across Saudi airports as Houthis claim Riyadh strikes

    A wave of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement on Saudi airports has thrown the kingdom’s entire aviation network into chaos, forcing mass flight cancellations, prompting global airlines to suspend services and stoking fears of a dangerous escalation in the long-running Yemen conflict.

    The violence began Saturday with a direct strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, one of Saudi Arabia’s busiest international gateways. According to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, the initial attack left 12 people dead and 309 more injured. That death toll climbed to 13 the following day after an injured Indian national succumbed to their wounds, Reuters reported. A separate Houthi attack on Sunday killed a Pakistani resident and wounded 11 others, Saudi authorities confirmed.

    In the wake of these attacks, aviation operations across Saudi Arabia have been severely disrupted. Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, cited by Reuters, shows that 60% of scheduled departures from Riyadh’s main airport were canceled on Monday, following a 99.7% cancellation rate just one day prior. Flightradar24 reported that both Riyadh and Dammam airports were fully closed to commercial traffic on Sunday. In Jeddah, airport officials canceled 156 scheduled flights, equal to 20% of the day’s total operations, while another 49% of flights—374 total—were pushed into delays. The widespread disruptions have left thousands of passengers stranded across the kingdom, with no clear timeline for a full return to normal operations.

    Multiple international airlines have moved quickly to suspend services to the Saudi capital in response to the security threat. Germany’s Lufthansa has canceled all flights to Riyadh through October 16, while Air France-KLM has extended its suspension of Riyadh services through the end of October. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has also issued an advisory urging American carriers to exercise extreme caution when operating in or over Saudi Arabian airspace.

    The Houthi movement, officially known as Ansar Allah, has claimed full responsibility for the attacks on King Khalid International Airport, as well as additional strikes on Dammam airport and facilities operated by Saudi energy giant Saudi Aramco. Over the weekend, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree issued a renewed public warning on the social platform X, cautioning airlines, shipping companies, aviation workers and travelers against using Saudi airports and airspace—with the sole exception of the airports serving the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. “The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces, with the exception of the airports of Makkah and Madina,” Saree said in the statement, adding that Saudi Arabia would bear full responsibility for any harm that results from failed interceptions of Houthi strikes.

    The Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen since 2015 has labeled the deadly Riyadh attack a “full-fledged war crime.” The attack has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community, with nations including Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Germany, France and the United Kingdom all issuing statements rejecting the targeting of civilian infrastructure. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres have also added their voices to those denouncing the attacks.

    UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting described the strike as “contemptible” and a “dangerous escalation” in an interview with Sky News over the weekend, noting that the attack underscores why the UK is supporting Saudi Arabia with air defense systems and air-to-air refueling capabilities. When asked whether the UK would expand its support for the kingdom, Streeting told the BBC that further support was “potentially” on the table.

    This latest round of violence marks the deadliest escalation in the ongoing tit-for-tat exchange of strikes between the Houthi movement and Saudi Arabia. The Houthi group, which controls Yemen’s capital Sanaa, has repeatedly targeted Saudi infrastructure in response to a years-long Saudi-led blockade of Houthi-held Yemeni territory. Houthi-affiliated media reported last Friday that Saudi airstrikes on Sanaa’s international airport killed two people, coming just one day after Houthi strikes on Riyadh airport killed three. The Houthi leadership has framed its recent attacks as a “blockade for a blockade,” demanding that Saudi Arabia lift its restrictions on land, air and sea access to Houthi-held Yemeni territory in exchange for an end to strikes on Saudi targets.

    Despite repeated airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Yemeni civilian infrastructure including airports, the Houthi movement has retained the capability to launch missile and drone strikes deep into Saudi Arabian territory, keeping the kingdom under constant threat of attack and prolonging one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian crises.

  • South Africa’s deputy police chief resigns after being charged with sexual offences

    South Africa’s deputy police chief resigns after being charged with sexual offences

    South Africa’s top-ranking deputy police leader has stepped down from his post, just three weeks after he was taken into custody on a series of grave criminal charges including sexual violence and organized crime links.

    Lt Gen Shadrack Sibiya, 59, had his resignation formally submitted by his legal representative during a scheduled disciplinary hearing on Monday, according to official confirmation from a South African Police Service spokesperson. The announcement, posted to the social platform X by police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, clarified that Sibiya’s exit from the force is officially classified as a dishonourable discharge, a designation that applies because he resigned while an active disciplinary process into the allegations against him was still ongoing.

    Sibiya has denied every single accusation leveled against him, which span multiple serious criminal and professional misconduct charges. The allegations against the former deputy commissioner include sexual grooming of a 16-year-old minor, the rape of an 18-year-old woman, and human trafficking. Sibiya has acknowledged that a sexual encounter with the 18-year-old took place, but has repeatedly maintained the interaction was fully consensual. Beyond the sexual offence charges, Sibiya also faces claims that he maintained close connections to known organized crime kingpins, allegations that first triggered his suspension from the police force back in 2023.

    The claims of Sibiya’s ties to organized crime first came to light during the high-profile Madlanga Commission, a public inquiry launched by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to probe widespread allegations of systemic corruption and collusion between senior law enforcement officials and criminal networks. The inquiry was convened after the former KwaZulu-Natal provincial police chief made explosive public claims in a press conference that then-national Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was collaborating with criminal gangs. Mchunu has denied all accusations against him, but has also been suspended from his position pending investigation.

    As part of the testimony before the Madlanga Commission, Sibiya was specifically accused of tampering with active investigations into a string of political assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal province. He was also alleged to have accepted bribes from an accused crime boss, including a cash payment and a gift of 20 live impala antelopes, in exchange for awarding a lucrative police service contract. Sibiya has repeatedly denied this bribery allegation.

    Over the past year, the Madlanga Commission’s hearings have dominated public attention across South Africa, and have uncovered hundreds of widespread allegations of inappropriate ties between sitting police officers and transnational criminal organizations. Sibiya has remained in police custody since his arrest three weeks prior to his resignation.

  • Who are Yemen’s Houthis and what do they want?

    Who are Yemen’s Houthis and what do they want?

    A series of coordinated Houthi attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport have left at least 14 people dead and more than 300 injured, marking the deadliest assault on Saudi territory in over a decade and escalating a regional conflict that has already plunged Yemen back into large-scale hostilities. The first strike, carried out on Saturday, killed 13 people and left 309 others wounded. A follow-up attack the next day claimed one additional life, sending shockwaves across the kingdom and the broader Middle East.

    The Saudi-led military coalition that has intervened in Yemen’s civil war since 2015 immediately condemned the assaults, labeling them a deliberate war crime. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed responsibility for the attacks in an official statement released Sunday, noting that the group had launched a multi-phase operation targeting the airport starting Friday evening that succeeded in closing the facility entirely. Saree issued a stark warning: all Saudi airports, with the exception of those serving the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, are now unsafe for operation. The Riyadh attacks cap months of steadily worsening violence that has unraveled a fragile peace agreement.

    A UN-brokered truce that had largely halted large-scale fighting across Yemen since 2022 collapsed in July, after Saudi coalition forces carried out airstrikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa’s international airport. In response, the Houthi movement announced a maritime blockade of Saudi territory. By September, Houthi fighters had seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mokha and advanced toward the Bab al-Mandab strait, a critical chokepoint for global maritime trade. Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces launched a counter-offensive in early October, prompting the United Nations’ special envoy to Yemen to issue a formal warning that the country had fully returned to full-scale war.

    Heavy, sustained clashes are ongoing around Taiz, a strategically vital city overlooking the Red Sea coast. The resumption of active fighting has already forced more than 130,000 Yemeni civilians to flee their homes in search of safety.

    To understand the current escalation, it is necessary to contextualize the origins and trajectory of the Houthi movement. Officially named Ansar Allah, meaning “helpers of God”, the group emerged in Yemen’s remote northern region in the 1990s, organized around the cleric Hussein al-Houthi. It is rooted in Zaydism, a Shia Islamic branch whose followers make up a minority of Yemen’s overall population but are concentrated in the country’s northern highlands. Between 2004 and 2010, the movement fought six separate rounds of conflict with the government of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hussein al-Houthi was killed in the first of these conflicts, and leadership passed to his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who remains the group’s head today.

    Houthi fighters seized control of Sanaa in September 2014, and in March 2015, Saudi Arabia assembled a multinational military coalition to intervene in Yemen in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which has since operated mostly from Riyadh and the southern Yemeni port city of Aden. By the time the 2022 truce took effect, the Houthis controlled roughly 30 percent of Yemen’s territory — home to 80 percent of the country’s population. Domestically, the group has pushed for greater autonomy for northern Yemen and increasingly demanded formal recognition as Yemen’s legitimate governing authority. It has long called for an end to what it describes as a Saudi land, air and naval blockade of Yemen, a characterization the Saudi government rejects.

    In his Sunday statement, Saree reaffirmed the group’s commitment to its “siege for siege, escalation for escalation” doctrine, promising to continue expanding attacks deep into Saudi territory until what the Houthis call “Saudi aggression” ends and the blockade of Yemen is lifted.

    The Houthi movement’s regional ambitions extend far beyond Yemen’s borders. The group frames its political agenda around opposition to U.S. and Israeli influence in the Middle East. Since 2023, it has launched attacks on more than 100 commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, claiming the actions are in solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These strikes were temporarily paused in May 2025 under a ceasefire agreement with the United States brokered by Oman. In March 2025, the group began firing missiles at Israel in a show of support for Iran following U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iranian targets.

    Iran lists Ansar Allah as a core member of its “Axis of Resistance”, an alliance of anti-Israel and anti-U.S. armed groups that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas. Iran has cultivated ties with the Houthis since at least the late 2000s, and the majority of the Houthi movement’s military arsenal is either designed or supplied directly by Tehran. The Houthis have repeatedly denied claims that they act as an Iranian proxy force.

    Following the Riyadh airport attacks, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei released a statement Monday saying Tehran was “deeply concerned” by the escalating conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, and offered to mediate dialogue between the two sides to de-escalate tensions.

    Since the 2015 Saudi-led intervention, the Houthi fighting force has expanded dramatically: from an estimated 30,000 fighters in 2015 to roughly 350,000 by 2024, though independent estimates of troop numbers vary. While the group lacks a conventional navy and has only limited air power, it has built an extensive arsenal of advanced asymmetric weapons, including long-range drones, explosive-laden unmanned surface vessels, and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking targets as far as 2,000 kilometers away — a range that covers all of Israel.

    The Bab al-Mandab strait, where the Houthis have advanced in recent months, connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and serves as the southern access route to the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most important trade chokepoints. The strait’s strategic importance has grown sharply in recent months after conflict around Iran disrupted commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing global oil prices higher and leaving the Red Sea route as a key alternative corridor for Saudi oil exports.

    This escalating conflict raises urgent concerns about regional stability and the safety of global commercial shipping, with potential ripple effects on energy markets and the global economy.