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  • Italy expels two Russian diplomats accused of spying: minister

    Italy expels two Russian diplomats accused of spying: minister

    In a sharp escalation of diplomatic tensions between Rome and Moscow, Italy has ordered the immediate expulsion of two Russian military attaches found to be engaged in espionage activities on Italian soil, senior government officials confirmed Thursday. The move comes just 48 hours after Italian law enforcement announced the arrest of two former Italian intelligence agents, who local media reports are accused of leaking highly sensitive military information related to Italy’s support for Ukraine to Russian handlers.

    Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani made the announcement of the expulsions official via a post on social media platform X, confirming the identities of the expelled diplomats as Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov. Tajani said the pair have been given a three-day deadline to leave Italian territory, noting they were directly tied to the espionage ring uncovered by prosecutors in Rome.

    In his statement, Tajani issued a firm condemnation of Moscow’s actions, saying: “Moscow continues to use hybrid warfare to attack the West and Italy — acts of interference that are serious and unacceptable to Italian institutions and national security.”

    The espionage investigation unfolded after Rome police revealed the arrest of the two ex-agents earlier this week. Details released by law enforcement show one of the detainees, a 59-year-old former Italian intelligence operative, was regularly paid by a Russian handler. Over the course of his collaboration, he passed classified information through a network of six sources, four of whom are currently active-duty military personnel assigned to high-security posts, police said.

    Local media reports have shed further light on the scope of the leaked information. The network allegedly passed details to Russia about the SAMP/T, a joint Italian-French air defense system, along with Aster missiles that Rome planned to deliver to Ukraine for field testing in 2024. Russian handlers also sought intelligence on a NATO deployment based in Bulgaria and Avio, the major Italian defense manufacturer that produces engines for military drones and supersonic missiles, according to the reports.
    Leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera added that the 59-year-old suspect also disclosed the identities of Italian counter-espionage agents assigned to monitor Russian intelligence operatives working in Italy. Another major national outlet, La Stampa, reported that the former agent shared thousands of separate intelligence documents with his Russian contacts over a 12-year period of collaboration, based on recordings of the suspect’s phone conversations seized by investigators.

    A legal representative for the former agent has rejected all accusations of treason against his client. The lawyer claims the suspect only collected information that is already available in the public domain, and the former agent is scheduled to undergo formal questioning by investigators on Friday.
    Details of the second arrested Italian ex-agent, including their identity and the specific accusations against them, have not been released to the public as of Thursday.

    Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto framed the uncovered ring as just a small part of a much larger pattern of Russian activity earlier this week, saying the case is “just the tip of the iceberg” of Moscow’s ongoing hybrid warfare campaign across Europe amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
    This is not the first such diplomatic clash between Italy and Russia in recent years. In 2024, an Italian court sentenced a serving Italian navy captain to prison after he was caught selling classified documents to the Russian embassy. That incident also resulted in Italy expelling two Russian officials, followed by Moscow retaliating with the expulsion of one Italian diplomat from Russia.

  • China’s passenger car exports are up 80% in June as EV demand grows, while sales drop at home

    China’s passenger car exports are up 80% in June as EV demand grows, while sales drop at home

    HONG KONG – China’s automotive industry is facing a stark divide in 2024, with booming overseas electric vehicle (EV) demand driving explosive export growth even as a prolonged downturn drags down domestic sales, new industry data shows.

    Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reveals that Chinese passenger car exports jumped 80% year-on-year in June alone, climbing to 905,000 units from May’s 809,000. For the first half of the year, total exports have surged 72% to more than 4.4 million units, a staggering increase that cements China’s position as the world’s top exporter of passenger vehicles. By comparison, domestic passenger car sales over the same January-June period reached nearly 8.3 million units, with 1.5 million sold in June – still a larger total volume than exports, but down 26% from last year’s levels.

    Multiple overlapping pressures have weighed heavily on China’s domestic auto market. The crowded, saturated landscape has ignited cutthroat price wars that have squeezed margins and left many potential buyers waiting for deeper discounts before committing to a purchase. A long-running slump in the country’s property sector has eroded household wealth and disposable income, cutting consumer willingness to make big-ticket purchases like new cars. Compounding these headwinds, the rollback of government EV purchase incentives has also dampened domestic demand for electric vehicles.

    Global consulting firm AlixPartners projects that total light vehicle sales, which include passenger cars, will drop by roughly 10% this year, as consumer expectations of further price declines push purchase delays across the market. Against this backdrop, expanding into international markets has shifted from an opportunity to a survival imperative for most Chinese automakers. “In China’s highly competitive environment, companies that don’t venture overseas will face immense difficulties in surviving,” Wei Haigang, president of GAC International, the overseas arm of Chinese automaker GAC Group, stated at a June auto expo in Hong Kong.

    Leading domestic brands like BYD have already moved aggressively to capture global market share, opening new production facilities in key high-demand regions to scale up output and reduce trade costs. This rapid global expansion has lifted long-term profit outlooks for Chinese automakers, but it has also sparked growing trade tensions with major trading partners.

    The divide is particularly clear in the North American market. In a recent positive development for Chinese brands, Canada approved an annual import quota that allows 49,000 Chinese-made EVs to enter the country at a preferential low tax rate, opening a new foothold for Chinese manufacturers. Industry analysts are now closely watching the Canadian market to see if this access paves the way for future entry into the U.S. market, where steep punitive tariffs have effectively blocked most Chinese EV exports to date. Even so, trade barriers continue to harden in some regions: last month, Polestar, the Sweden-based EV brand controlled by China’s Geely Holding Group, announced that the U.S. Commerce Department has banned Polestar from selling vehicles in the U.S. starting from the 2027 model year.

    Industry analysts hold largely positive long-term outlooks for China’s auto export growth. Stephen Chan, an analyst with S&P Global Ratings, projects that full-year Chinese passenger car exports will grow between 30% and 50% annually through 2026. AlixPartners forecasts that total Chinese vehicle exports will rise from roughly 7 million units in 2025 to around 10 million units by 2026.

    Analysts also note that geopolitical tensions tied to the ongoing conflict in Iran have pushed global gasoline prices higher, which is expected to further boost consumer and fleet demand for electric vehicles worldwide – a shift that plays directly to the strength of Chinese EV manufacturers, who have built significant cost and production scale advantages in the global EV supply chain.

  • PepsiCo says economic concerns weighed on customers in North American during recent quarter

    PepsiCo says economic concerns weighed on customers in North American during recent quarter

    Leading global food and beverage conglomerate PepsiCo has outperformed Wall Street revenue projections for the second quarter of the fiscal year, even as softened consumer spending in its key North American market created headwinds amid ongoing economic anxiety. The Purchase, New York-based firm announced its second quarter results Thursday, revealing net revenue climbed 6.4% year-over-year to hit $24.2 billion. This figure edged past the consensus analyst forecast of $23.9 billion compiled by financial data firm FactSet.

    The quarterly results cap a period of shifting consumer behavior that has forced PepsiCo to adjust its pricing and product strategy. Earlier this year, ahead of the Super Bowl, the company implemented an aggressive price cut of up to 15% on popular salty snack lines including Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos. The move came in direct response to growing consumer frustration over years of steady price increases across the grocery sector, and it delivered a noticeable bump in North American snack demand during the first quarter.

    However, the second quarter brought new economic pressures tied to escalating conflict between Iran and Western powers. A sharp spike in global oil prices driven by the war pushed gasoline costs higher across the U.S., forcing many households to further tighten discretionary spending. By the end of the quarter, PepsiCo’s North American snack sales volumes had stalled entirely, while beverage volumes fell by 4% compared to the previous year.

    Though gas prices retreated temporarily to deliver a small uptick in consumer economic sentiment, the improvement has not shifted overall negative public outlook. Recent escalations in Iranian hostilities have already pushed gas prices back upward over the past 48 hours, signaling ongoing volatility for consumer budgets in the quarters ahead.

    Against the challenging North American landscape, PepsiCo’s international divisions delivered stronger performance that offset domestic weakness. Globally, the company recorded a 3% increase in snack volumes and a 2% rise in beverage volumes, driven in part by innovative themed marketing tied to a major international sporting event. Limited-edition World Cup product offerings, including unique regional Lay’s flavors such as Portuguese Chorizo and Onion, resonated with consumers across global markets and lifted overall sales.

    Looking ahead, PepsiCo says it will maintain its focus on making core products more accessible to budget-stretched consumers, with continued investments in pricing and production to keep costs manageable. The company is also expanding its portfolio to meet growing consumer demand for healthier packaged goods. Earlier this year in March, it launched Gatorade Lower Sugar, a new formulation of its iconic sports drink that contains no artificial flavors or coloring additives.

    On the bottom line, PepsiCo reported strong net income growth that saw quarterly profit more than double year-over-year to $2.98 billion. When adjusted for one-time accounting items, the company posted earnings of $2.18 per share — a figure that came just one cent short of the average analyst forecast of $2.19 per share. In premarket trading on Thursday following the earnings release, PepsiCo’s share price dipped less than 1%.

  • Labour leadership contest takes Burnham closer to UK PM’s office

    Labour leadership contest takes Burnham closer to UK PM’s office

    The path to 10 Downing Street cleared a major milestone for veteran British politician Andy Burnham on Thursday, as the nomination period officially opened for a new leader of the UK’s ruling Labour Party following Keir Starmer’s resignation last month.

    At 56 years old, Burnham stands as the only sitting Labour Member of Parliament that has publicly declared their candidacy to replace Starmer, who stepped down on June 22 after losing the confidence of his parliamentary party amid sustained criticism over repeated policy flip-flops and questions about his decision-making. Thursday morning saw a steady stream of Labour MPs file into the party’s parliamentary headquarters to submit their nominations for their preferred leader, with most insiders already signaling their backing for Burnham.

    With no other declared candidates in the race after a string of potential challengers dropped out in recent days, political observers widely expect Burnham to be formally confirmed as Labour’s new leader – and the UK’s prime minister-in-waiting – at a special party conference scheduled for July 17. He would officially take up residence at 10 Downing Street just three days after the confirmation vote. If a contested leadership election were called, however, a result would not be announced until August 29, after a ballot of rank-and-file Labour members and representatives from the party’s affiliated trade unions.

    Burnham’s path to the top job became all but guaranteed late Wednesday when former armed forces minister Al Carns announced he would not enter the race, ending any last speculation of a contested contest. Carns had initially suggested a leadership race could give Labour a chance to hold a full policy debate, but ultimately backed out and threw his support behind Burnham, arguing that extended internal party infighting was not what the British public needed amid ongoing economic and social challenges. “Months of internal Labour politics isn’t what the country needs right now. We’ve got to get on with the job,” Carns said in his statement.

    To qualify as an official candidate, Burnham only needs the backing of 81 of Labour’s 402 sitting MPs – a threshold that political insiders confirm he will pass far more easily than required. Nicknamed the “King of the North” for his three consecutive election wins as Greater Manchester mayor, Burnham returned to parliament last month after winning a by-election, a move that cleared the way for his leadership bid. He previously served as an MP between 2001 and 2017, and this marks his third attempt to secure Labour’s top leadership post.

    In a keynote policy speech delivered in June, Burnham laid out his early policy priorities, promising to deliver “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen” by devolving more authority to regional and local communities. “We need to put power in the hands of the people and places who can use it best,” he said, adding that raising living standards for all UK residents would be his core priority. “To fix the economy and the country, we need to change politics and we need to do it now,” he added. He has already moved to reassure financial markets by committing to the outgoing government’s current borrowing limits, pledging fiscal discipline and promising to reduce the UK’s growing welfare spending. One of his signature proposals is the creation of a “No. 10 North” regional prime ministerial office to drive devolution across northern England.

    Carns’ withdrawal follows another high-profile exit from potential candidacy, after former health minister Wes Streeting announced he would abandon plans to run and also back Burnham. Multiple opinion polls rank Burnham as Labour’s most popular national politician, positioning him as slightly left of the more centrist Starmer. Many Labour MPs see Burnham as the party’s best bet to recapture lost voter support from Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK, which has led Labour in national opinion polls for more than a year. Recent polling has narrowed the gap, however, amid growing scrutiny of Farage’s personal finances.

    On the day Starmer announced his resignation, Burnham was sworn in as a Member of Parliament, and more than 200 Labour MPs turned out for a celebratory group photo with him at Westminster, a clear public signal of the party’s overwhelming support for his leadership bid. One anonymous Labour MP told reporters that the party was right to back Burnham, arguing that “he couldn’t be worse than Starmer” and describing him as a potential “breath of fresh air” for British politics. But not all MPs are fully confident: another anonymous lawmaker who backed Burnham expressed concern that the incoming leader will only have a matter of weeks to prepare to take control of government before he officially becomes prime minister.

  • ‘Total Eclipse’ singer Bonnie Tyler, queen of the 80s power ballad, dies at 75

    ‘Total Eclipse’ singer Bonnie Tyler, queen of the 80s power ballad, dies at 75

    The global music community is mourning the loss of one of the 1980s most iconic vocal talents, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, who has passed away at the age of 75. Her family confirmed the news in a public Facebook statement Thursday, announcing that Tyler died unexpectedly overnight at a hospital in Portugal, where she had been receiving treatment for complications following emergency intestinal surgery earlier in May.

    Tyler’s death comes weeks after fans were given renewed hope when she emerged from an induced coma following the procedure. The planned 50th anniversary European tour celebrating her 1976 breakthrough hit *Lost in France* had already been canceled due to her ongoing illness, with the run scheduled to conclude this December in her hometown region’s capital of Cardiff.

    Born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951 in the small Welsh town of Neath, Tyler grew up in a working-class household alongside five siblings, the daughter of a coal miner and a homemaker. She left formal schooling at 16, with little inkling that she would go on to become one of rock music’s most recognizable and beloved voices. From an early age, she drew musical inspiration from her mother, whose own powerful singing drew neighborhood crowds; Tyler would later credit her mother for passing down her extraordinary vocal gift.

    In her early working years, Tyler held a job at a local grocery store, performing at small venues in her free time. She first changed her stage name to Sherene Davis to avoid confusion with popular contemporary Welsh singer Mary Hopkin, before rebranding as Bonnie Tyler after being scouted by RCA Records in 1975, just months after talent agent Roger Bell discovered her performing at a Swansea nightclub. Shortly after signing her first record deal, Tyler underwent surgery to remove vocal cord nodules; when she did not rest her voice as advised following the procedure, she developed the signature husky, sultry vocal tone that would make her a global star.

    Tyler earned her first mainstream chart success with the 1977 hit *It’s a Heartache*, and shifted toward a harder rock sound as she entered the 1980s. It was 1983’s *Total Eclipse of the Heart*, written by legendary composer Jim Steinman, that cemented her place as an international music icon. The epic power ballad remains one of the most beloved tracks in rock history: 43 years after its initial release, it crossed one billion streams on Spotify, has sold more than six million copies worldwide, and its iconic music video has racked up more than one billion views on YouTube.

    At the height of her fame in 1984, Tyler scored another global hit with *Holding Out for a Hero*, recorded for the blockbuster box office hit *Footloose* starring Kevin Bacon. Over the course of her five-decade career, she released 17 full studio albums, earned three Grammy Award nominations, and represented the United Kingdom at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. She remained a particularly popular draw in Germany throughout her later career, and in 2022, she was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to global music.

    Known for her unpretentious, down-to-earth persona and unwavering connection to her Welsh roots, Tyler maintained a quiet life outside of her touring schedule. Married to her childhood sweetheart, former judo athlete and property developer Robert Sullivan, since 1973, she split her time between Wales and the Algarve region of Portugal, a place she once described as a “magical” home that she held close to her heart. In interviews later in life, she often laughed off the trappings of global stardom, telling *The Times* in 2025, “I live a very normal life and don’t go around with bodyguards; I’m not Mariah Carey, darling. I’m always happy to take a selfie in front of the salad counter.”

    When asked if she grew tired of performing her decades-old hit songs, Tyler had only one answer: “Why wouldn’t I love singing something like ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’? As soon as I start one of those numbers, the whole audience sings it back to me — it’s magic.” That magic has left an enduring legacy that will continue to resonate with music fans across generations for decades to come.

  • AU envoy reaffirms efforts to de-escalate Sudan conflict, push for ceasefire

    AU envoy reaffirms efforts to de-escalate Sudan conflict, push for ceasefire

    Three years after deadly conflict erupted across Sudan, the African Union’s top mediator has doubled down on the bloc’s push to end the violence, following high-level talks with Sudan’s interim leadership in Khartoum.

    Mohamed Belaiche, the AU Special Envoy for Sudan, made the commitment Wednesday during a face-to-face meeting with Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, in the country’s capital. Belaiche emphasized that the AU’s immediate priority is rolling back escalating hostilities and laying the groundwork for a sustainable ceasefire, which would create space to resolve the country’s deep-rooted crisis through an inclusive, all-party political dialogue.

    Wednesday’s discussion, Belaiche noted, was part of a continuous series of consultations between the African Union and Sudanese stakeholders focused on tracking evolving political and security conditions across the nation. The two sides also covered two key procedural steps for the AU’s ongoing engagement: the reopening of the bloc’s liaison office in Khartoum, and logistics for an upcoming high-level AU delegation visit to the country scheduled for the near term.

    Sudan has been trapped in full-scale conflict since mid-April 2023, when tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into open combat. The three-year conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and triggered one of the world’s worst displacement crises, with millions of Sudanese forced to flee their homes both within the country and across international borders.

  • Cambodia inaugurates China-funded road project

    Cambodia inaugurates China-funded road project

    On Tuesday, Cambodia celebrated the official opening of a 45-kilometer upgraded stretch of National Road 7, a key infrastructure project financed through Chinese support, in the country’s southeastern Kampong Cham Province. The inauguration ceremony drew high-level attendance from both nations, including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wenbin.

    Hun Manet opened the event by emphasizing the critical economic role of the new section, which runs from the Skun Market roundabout to the Kizuna Bridge roundabout in central Kampong Cham. The upgraded corridor creates a seamless link between Cambodia’s central lowland regions and its resource-rich northeastern provinces, serving as a core arterial route for cross-regional movement of goods and people. “This road will streamline public travel, unlock new growth for trade and tourism, and directly improve quality of life for local residents and daily commuters,” Hun Manet stated in comments reported by Xinhua News Agency.

    National Road 7 as a whole is one of Cambodia’s most important transport thoroughfares. The 196-kilometer route, which connects the capital Phnom Penh through Kandal and Kampong Cham provinces all the way to the Lao border, has its origins in early Chinese development assistance, with initial construction launching in 2004. Since opening to traffic in 2008, it has consistently ranked among the country’s busiest highways, carrying the bulk of cross-border and inter-regional traffic. The latest upgrade and expansion project took 27 months to complete, carried out by China Road and Bridge Corporation. Financing came primarily from a preferential loan provided by the Chinese government, with complementary funding contributed by the Cambodian government.

    The upgrade has expanded the 45-kilometer section from a narrow two-lane road to a modern four-lane highway, designed to accommodate the rapid growth in passenger and freight traffic the route has seen in recent years. Beyond easing congestion, officials project the improved corridor will speed up the movement of commercial and agricultural goods, strengthen Cambodia’s domestic logistics sector, and unlock new tourism potential for Kampong Cham, a province rich with ancient Khmer temples, scenic nature resorts, and centuries-old historical sites.

    Hun Manet noted that the project is projected to deliver an economic internal rate of return as high as 15.27 percent, framing its completion as a powerful demonstration of the deep collaborative partnership between Phnom Penh and Beijing. He extended official gratitude to China for its longstanding and widespread support for Cambodia’s socioeconomic development and poverty reduction efforts. Echoing this praise, Cambodian Minister of Public Works and Transport Peng Ponea emphasized that the road’s opening will invigorate cross-regional travel and trade, accelerating inclusive growth across Kampong Cham and its adjacent high-potential neighboring provinces. “China’s assistance has helped upgrade our logistics network and drive national economic growth, aligning perfectly with Cambodia’s own development goals and the demands of global economic integration,” Peng Ponea said, thanking China for its consistent financial and technical support for Cambodia’s ongoing transport infrastructure expansion and rehabilitation projects.

    In a Facebook post following the inauguration ceremony, Ambassador Wang Wenbin highlighted that the growing network of Chinese-supported roads and bridges across Cambodia is both a reflection of the Southeast Asian nation’s growing economic dynamism and a tangible symbol of the unbreakable ironclad friendship between the two countries. “These projects truly are ‘roads of opportunity’ and ‘bridges of cooperation’, and I am fully confident that many more will be built in the years ahead,” Wang wrote.

    Thong Mengdavid, deputy director of the China-ASEAN Studies Center at the Cambodia University of Technology and Science, explained that the new road section marks a major milestone for the Cambodian government’s Pentagonal Strategy-Phase I, the administration’s flagship socioeconomic development agenda. A key detail of the project that will benefit local commuters and businesses is that the upgraded section will remain toll-free. Mengdavid noted that the upgrade cuts travel time along the corridor in half, from an hour down to just 30 minutes, turning what was long a congested transport bottleneck into a high-efficiency movement corridor.

    For local producers, that time and cost savings will have immediate, tangible benefits. “For local farmers and traders, this means fresh agricultural products such as rubber, cashews, and cassava can reach domestic markets and regional processing plants faster and at significantly lower transportation costs,” Mengdavid explained. He added that the improved infrastructure is also expected to attract new domestic and foreign investment to the Kampong Cham region, which will in turn create new formal employment opportunities for local residents, strengthen regional supply chain resilience, and expand cross-border connectivity between Cambodia and its regional neighbors.

  • Bonnie Tyler, who topped the charts with epic ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ has died at 75

    Bonnie Tyler, who topped the charts with epic ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart,’ has died at 75

    Bonnie Tyler, the Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star whose signature gravelly roar turned the 1983 power ballad *Total Eclipse of the Heart* into a generational cultural staple, has died at 75. Her death came unexpectedly at a hospital in Portugal, where she had been receiving treatment for an illness, her family confirmed in a public statement posted to Tyler’s official website Thursday.

    Tyler had been admitted to a Faro hospital — near the coastal Portuguese home she maintained — for emergency intestinal surgery in May. After a period in an induced coma, medical updates last month indicated her condition was improving, and a full recovery was widely expected. “Bonnie’s family and team are heartbroken to announce that Bonnie unexpectedly passed away last night in hospital in Portugal as a result of the illness that she was being treated for,” the statement read.

    Born Gaynor Hopkins in 1948, Tyler grew up the daughter of a coal miner in working-class public housing in Skewen, Wales, just outside Swansea. Raised alongside three sisters and two brothers, she fell in love with music from an early age: her first album was The Beatles’ *A Hard Day’s Night*, and at 13 she purchased her first single, The Swinging Blue Jeans’ *Hippy Hippy Shake*, as documented in her memoir *Straight From the Heart*. A devout viewer of the iconic UK music program *Top of the Pops*, Tyler would record episodes on a vintage reel-to-reel recorder, transcribe lyrics to her favorite tracks from artists including Janis Joplin, Nina Simone, and Tina Turner, and practice singing for hours into a hairbrush. Even in those early years, she noted her distinctively husky vocal tone, though she never imagined it would become her trademark. That signature sound was solidified in 1976, when she underwent surgery to remove vocal nodules, leaving her with the rough, powerful delivery that would make her famous.

    After performing under the stage name Sherine Davis as the frontwoman of a local soul band, Tyler was discovered by talent scout Roger Bell, who brought her to London for demo recordings. When RCA Records signed her, the label encouraged her to adopt the stage name Bonnie Tyler. Her 1977 debut album *The World Starts Tonight* spawned her first chart hit, *Lost in France*, and earned her a Brit Awards nomination for Breakthrough Artist. A year later, she scored a No. 3 UK hit with *It’s a Heartache*, but her career would reach unprecedented heights after she signed with Sony. After seeing Meat Loaf perform *Bat Out of Hell* on the BBC, Tyler personally requested to work with Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf’s iconic songwriter and producer.

    Steinman offered Tyler the centerpiece of what would become her fifth studio album *Faster Than the Speed of Night*: *Total Eclipse of the Heart*. The track borrowed the iconic line “Turn around, bright eyes” from Steinman’s 1969 student musical *The Dream Engine*, and the producer originally framed it as a cut for a planned stage adaptation of the vampire classic *Nosferatu*. Recalling the recording process in a 2023 interview with *The Guardian*, Tyler said: “Jim liked to put down a basic rhythm track, do nine takes of the song, choose the best one and then put the kitchen sink on there, like Phil Spector used to. He gave me a cassette to listen to in my hotel and we both preferred take two.” Backed by E Street Band members Roy Bittan on piano and Max Weinberg on drums, the track is a soaring, gut-wrenching meditation on lost love, with lyrics that explore the loneliness of a broken heart.

    Its accompanying music video became a defining staple of early MTV, filmed at a creepy, gothic former psychiatric asylum in Surrey, where guard dogs reportedly refused to enter the basement rooms that once held electric shock treatment sessions. The over-the-top visuals included slow-motion doves, flickering candles, dancing ninjas, greaser dancers, oversized shoulder pads, fencers, gymnasts, wind machines, and shirtless teen boys in swim goggles being doused with water. The track spent four consecutive weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and earned Tyler two Grammy nominations: one for the album in the Best Rock Vocal Performance category, and one for the single for Best Pop Vocal Performance. Though she lost both awards, the track’s cultural legacy only grew across decades. In a 2020 reevaluation, music outlet Stereogum hailed *Total Eclipse of the Heart* as an “extinction-level event rendered in musical form,” adding: “It’s pop music as heart-pounding, chest-thumping, blood-gargling, heavens-falling passion explosion. It’s sheer spectacle. It’s fireworks and lasers and lightning and thunder. It soars and swoops and barrel-rolls.”

    The track has never faded from public consciousness: it has been covered by dozens of artists, from Nicki French in 1995 to Westlife in 2006, and has appeared in dozens of films and television shows, including a memorable scene in the 2001 comedy *Bandits*, where Cate Blanchett sings the track before hitting Billy Bob Thornton’s character with a car, and a wedding scene in the 2003 comedy *Old School*. One Direction performed it on the UK’s *The X Factor* during their 2010 audition run. Streaming numbers have spiked repeatedly during real solar and lunar eclipses, pushing the track past 1 billion total streams as of 2024, with major surges during the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses.

    Though Tyler never matched the commercial peak of *Total Eclipse of the Heart*, she maintained a prolific decades-long career, releasing fan-favorite tracks including 1984’s *Holding Out for a Hero* (featured on the *Footloose* soundtrack) and *Here She Comes* from the *Metropolis* reissue. In 2013, she released the country-influenced album *Rocks and Honey* recorded in Nashville, which included the track *Believe in Me* selected to represent the United Kingdom at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. Recalling the experience in a 2023 interview, she said: “It was an absolutely wonderful atmosphere there. I was being interviewed every 15, 20 minutes, and when I walked out onstage behind the British flag, I thought the roof was going to come off! It was awesome, just awesome!” In 2017, she performed the iconic track alongside DNCE, Joe Jonas’ band, on a special “Total Eclipse Cruise” during the 2017 total solar eclipse, drawing global attention. Her 2019 album *Between the Earth and the Stars* featured duets with legends including Rod Stewart, Cliff Richard, and Status Quo’s Francis Rossi, and she closed the year with a performance at a Vatican Christmas concert for Pope Francis.

    In 2022, Tyler was honored as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her decades of contributions to music. She is survived by her husband Robert Sullivan, a property developer and former Olympic judo competitor.

    Associated Press writer Brian Melley contributed reporting from London.

  • Search continues in rough seas off Pakistan for missing cargo plane crew

    Search continues in rough seas off Pakistan for missing cargo plane crew

    A day after wreckage fragments from a downed Pakistani cargo plane were pulled from the Arabian Sea, Pakistani naval search and rescue operations remained locked in a struggle against choppy, unforgiving waters on Thursday, as efforts to locate five missing crew members and the aircraft’s main fuselage stretched into a second full day of searching.

    The cargo plane, operated by private Pakistani aviation firm K2 Airways, was traveling to Karachi — Pakistan’s largest and busiest urban and commercial hub — from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, when it suffered a reported navigation system malfunction before all radio and radar contact was lost late Tuesday, according to official statements from the Pakistan Airports Authority. The aircraft disappeared from radar screens approximately 300 kilometers southwest of Karachi, and as of Thursday, the core fuselage of the plane and all five crew members remained unaccounted for, two anonymous officials familiar with the search operation confirmed to the Associated Press, noting they were not cleared to speak publicly about the ongoing mission.

    Twelve hours after the plane vanished, Pakistan’s navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency recovered scattered wreckage fragments roughly 100 kilometers off the coast of Ormara, a small coastal town in Balochistan province’s southwestern Makran Coast. The Pakistan Airports Authority published images on its social media platform X showing search crews lifting debris from the water, but officials warned that harsh conditions have hampered the mission: strong winds, turbulent seas and shifting ocean currents have carried floating wreckage far from the original crash site, spreading debris across a huge expanse of open water.

    In a separate, successful rescue operation also carried out Thursday off Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast, the Pakistani navy rescued all 20 crew members of a sinking traditional cargo dhow east of Ormara. The wooden vessel issued an urgent distress call after it began taking on water; the navy immediately dispatched a patrol ship and aircraft to the area, and all rescued crew members are now receiving onshore medical care, according to an official military statement.

    Retired Rear Admiral Faisal Shah, a senior Pakistani naval expert, warned that locating the downed plane’s main airframe could be a months- or even years-long effort. The crash is believed to have occurred in waters reaching nearly 3,000 meters deep, a depth that requires specialized deep-sea search equipment not immediately available for the operation. Shah drew a parallel to the decades-long search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014 and has never been definitively located, even after years of coordinated international search efforts. He added that floating debris recovered near Ormara does not definitively mark the crash site, as currents and wind can carry wreckage hundreds of kilometers from where the plane went down.

    K2 Airways has publicly identified the five missing crew members: captain Muhammad Rizwan Idris, first officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already directed all relevant state agencies to deploy every available resource to the search mission, and extended official condolences to the families of the missing men.

    Preliminary radar data analyzed by the Pakistan Airports Authority shows the aircraft made an abrupt, unplanned change of course before entering a rapid descent shortly before contact was lost at 9:21 p.m. local time on Tuesday, 287 kilometers west of Karachi. The official cause of the crash remains under active investigation, with no preliminary conclusions released as of Thursday.

    This crash comes as Pakistan has a decades-long history of fatal civil aviation accidents. In May 2020, a passenger flight operated by Pakistan International Airlines carrying 99 people crashed into a densely populated residential neighborhood near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport during a landing attempt. The crash killed 97 of the 99 people on board, and a subsequent official government investigation attributed the disaster to preventable human error by both the flight crew and ground air traffic controllers.

  • Ebola misinformation fuels violent attacks on health workers

    Ebola misinformation fuels violent attacks on health workers

    The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which first emerged in mid-May this year, has already triggered a devastating dual crisis: a rapidly spreading public health emergency compounded by dangerous falsehoods that have turned communities against the medical teams working to save lives. BBC Verify, the fact-checking division of the British public broadcaster, has conducted an investigation into multiple violent incidents targeting frontline health workers, all traced back to widespread misinformation circulating in affected regions. As of the latest official updates, the outbreak has infected more than 1,700 people across the country and claimed at least 580 lives, with case counts continuing to climb as responders struggle to contain both the virus and the harmful rumors undermining their work. Misinformation around Ebola is not a new phenomenon in central Africa, but its current impact has been particularly severe: false claims that health workers are spreading the virus themselves, or that Ebola treatment is a dangerous hoax, have convinced segments of the local population to attack medical convoys, storm treatment centers, and threaten staff. These violent acts not only endanger the lives of frontline workers but also severely disrupt outbreak containment efforts, allowing the virus to spread further into unmonitored communities. BBC Verify’s ongoing analysis underscores how quickly misinformation can travel through informal social networks in remote regions, turning a public health challenge into a security crisis that complicates international and local response efforts.