Global Pulse

标签： Europe

欧洲

  • Funeral honors Ukrainian student killed as she helped the victims of a Russian strike

    Funeral honors Ukrainian student killed as she helped the victims of a Russian strike

    On a somber Tuesday in central Kyiv, hundreds of mourners clad mostly in white followed the open casket of 20-year-old Vitalina Yarovenko, a university student who was killed over the weekend by a coordinated Russian double-tap missile strike while she treated victims of an initial attack. The funeral service began at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, where clergy led prayers for the slain volunteer, and tearful loved ones approached the casket to bid their final goodbyes.

    Per Yarovenko’s family’s request, attendees wore white or traditional Ukrainian embroidered garments instead of customary black funeral clothing. The choice was made to ensure Vitalina would not “feel too sad” on her final journey through Kyiv. Though Yarovenko was a civilian, her mother requested the fallen soldier’s funeral procession, a rare honor for non-military casualties, that carried the casket from the cathedral downhill to Kyiv’s iconic Independence Square. City traffic halted for several minutes to clear the way for the procession; drivers stepped out of their vehicles to stand in silent tribute, with some dropping to a single knee and others pressing a hand over their hearts in respect.

    Yarovenko was a fourth-year psychology student at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and also worked as an instructor at the university’s affiliated military training school. In July, she joined the volunteer medical corps Hospitallers, an Ukrainian medical organization that deploys teams to Russian attack sites to provide urgent care and evacuate wounded civilians and soldiers.

    On early Saturday morning, Yarovenko rushed to the site of a Russian missile strike that had targeted Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district. While she and other volunteers worked to treat survivors at the location, a second missile hit the exact same spot, killing her instantly. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly condemned Russia’s widespread use of the “double tap” tactic: a deliberate military strategy that launches an initial strike to draw first responders, rescue teams and volunteers to the site, followed by a second attack designed specifically to kill or maim those who have come to help.

    At Independence Square, the gathered crowd fell silent for a minute to honor all those who have died defending Ukraine. Yarovenko’s mother, Nataliia, stood holding a microphone in one hand and a large portrait of her daughter in the other, her voice breaking with tears as she spoke. “I have given up the meaning of my entire life, but I am immensely proud,” she told the crowd. “I don’t want a hero at home. I want my child at home. But this was her path.”

    Standing beside her was another grieving mother, also named Nataliia, whose 25-year-old daughter Eva Royce had been working alongside Yarovenko and was also killed in the second strike. Royce has not yet been laid to rest: her remains were severely burned in the attack, and DNA identification of recovered remains is still ongoing. She did not speak during the ceremony, consumed by private grief for her own lost child.

    Friends and loved ones remembered Yarovenko as a bright, compassionate young woman deeply committed to defending her country. She had planned to enlist in the Ukrainian military immediately after graduating this year, according to her friend Anastasiia Alieksieieva. “Her decision to volunteer and help people in Kyiv after the attacks showed how committed she was to that plan,” Alieksieieva, 21, said. “She did not even make it to graduation.”

    Another close friend, 19-year-old Anna Donets, shared that Yarovenko had spent months fundraising for the Ukrainian military, volunteering at a frontline military hospital, and organizing military training camps for Ukrainian youth. “There are not many people like her, and she was going there to help people,” Donets said. “People like her shape the future, and others should follow them. But unfortunately, Russia kills them.”

    Donets remembered Yarovenko as an infectiously funny young woman whose energy lifted everyone around her. “We were remembering her humor yesterday and laughing because she was always teasing everyone. It was never boring with her,” she said. “At 8 in the morning on teaching days, when everyone else was exhausted, she would arrive as if she were stepping onto a runway. She was so beautiful — simply a queen.”

    Serhii Beskrestnov, a family friend and presidential adviser on defense technology development, struggled to articulate his grief. “We understand that there is a war, that men and women are dying,” he said. “But when it happens away from the front, to people who are helping … I don’t know. I have no words right now.”

    Yarovenko’s death came as part of a massive Russian aerial assault across Ukraine that night, which saw Russian forces launch 220 aerial weapons: 35 missiles, 185 attack drones, including 27 ballistic Iskander-M and S-400 missiles. Ukrainian air defense forces only managed to intercept one of the ballistic missiles and one guided air-launched missile. The attack left nine people dead and 33 wounded across Kyiv alone, and laid bare Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptor missiles for Western-supplied air defense systems. Ukraine relies heavily on U.S.-made Patriot systems to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks, but stocks of interceptor missiles remain dangerously depleted.

    At the close of the ceremony, mourners filed past Yarovenko’s casket one by one, laying white flowers at its side before she was transported to a Kyiv military cemetery for burial — a rare honor reserved for fallen soldiers, extended to the young civilian volunteer. In her final remarks, Nataliia spoke of the future she had dreamed of for her daughter, and the call for all Ukrainians to continue fighting for the future of their nation. “We must withstand this war so that this land remains for our Ukrainian children,” she said. “Unfortunately, my child will now lie in this earth. I would have very much liked to give her a beautiful wedding, but today that is no longer possible.”

  • This summer isn’t breaking heat records — yet. Wait until El Nino kicks in, scientists say

    This summer isn’t breaking heat records — yet. Wait until El Nino kicks in, scientists say

    Across North America and Europe, out-of-control wildfires are scorching landscapes while deadly heat waves linger over major population centers. At the same time, the world’s oceans have hit their hottest recorded temperatures for this time of year, with a rapidly strengthening El Niño forecast to reach unprecedented intensity that will send global temperatures soaring and disrupt weather patterns across every continent. While this summer of extreme heat may feel like an unrivaled climate catastrophe, 2026 has not yet claimed the dubious title of the world’s hottest year on record — at least, not yet. Current climate data ranks 2026 as the third-warmest year to date, trailing only 2024 and 2025. But leading climate scientists say that by the end of the calendar year, the combined force of accelerating human-caused global warming and an unusually strong El Niño makes it increasingly likely that 2026 will surpass 2024 to claim the top spot as the hottest year ever recorded, if not come extremely close.

    Even if 2026 does break the record, climate experts widely agree that the new mark will not stand for long. While there is some debate among researchers over whether 2026 will take the crown this year, there is near-universal consensus that 2027 will exceed all modern temperature records, potentially by a substantial margin.

    Recent years have seen global conflicts draw public and policy attention away from the climate crisis, but the current wave of heat and fire makes the issue impossible to ignore. “With wars around the globe in the last few years people didn’t pay much attention to climate change because the world was on fire in different ways. The world is now on fire again with climate change in a way that’s increasingly difficult to ignore,” said Zeke Hausfather, a leading climate scientist at Berkeley Earth. “It’s going to keep getting worse.”

    Hausfather’s current analysis puts the probability that 2026 will overtake 2024 as the hottest year on record at 35 percent, a figure he has adjusted upward nearly every month since March, when the odds stood at just 7 percent. James Hansen, the former top NASA climate scientist widely regarded as the godfather of modern climate science for four decades of accurate long-term warnings about rising temperatures, predicts 2026 will edge past 2024 by the end of the year.

    Ocean temperature data already points to this outcome, Hansen notes. Global daily sea surface temperatures matched 2024 levels starting in May, and have hit record highs almost every day since June. Since oceans cover more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface, there is roughly a six-week lag between ocean warming and a corresponding rise in the global average surface temperature, Hansen explained. That means widespread global temperature records are imminent. This year, 82 percent of the world’s ocean surface is experiencing damaging marine heatwaves, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

    The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) previously forecast just a 0.1 percent chance that 2026 would claim the number one spot, with a 66 percent chance it would rank as the fourth-warmest year on record. But Russell Vose, head of monitoring at NOAA, confirmed that those odds will be revised upward significantly when the agency releases its updated July analysis.

    Hausfather says the shifting odds stem from updated forecasts that now predict El Niño will reach historically unmatched strength. El Niño is a natural temporary climate pattern characterized by warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific, which raises global average temperatures and amplifies extreme weather events across the globe. Most current projections show this El Niño becoming the strongest ever recorded.

    Unlike natural El Niño events of the past, today’s event is releasing far more stored heat than historic averages, explained Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at Climate Central, a non-profit science and communications organization. “El Ninos always release pent-up heat in the ocean, but because of greenhouse gases trapping heat and 90% of it going into the world’s seas, there’s more heat to release,” Labe said. He added that overall ocean heat content, a key benchmark of human-caused climate change, continues to set new record highs year after year.

    Crucially, climate scientists emphasize that the extreme heat and wildfire risk this summer cannot be blamed solely on El Niño, as the event’s full temperature impacts do not typically emerge for several more months. Instead, the rampant extreme weather of summer 2026 is exactly the outcome long warned by scientists as a consequence of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
    “The driver of the record warmth is climate change in the background. And it’s a much larger — much, much larger — contribution than El Nino, which is just a tenth to two-tenths of a degree on top of that long-term trend,” Labe said.

    Hansen added that the pace of warming is accelerating faster than many models predicted, for two key reasons. First, traditional industrial pollution that produces cooling aerosols (which have long masked the full intensity of greenhouse gas-driven warming) has declined in recent decades. Second, it appears the climate system is more sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions than many scientists previously anticipated.

    This year’s heat waves have been particularly punishing in regions unaccustomed to extreme triple-digit temperatures, unlike the consistently hot tropics, researchers note. They have also been unusually intense at night, preventing residents from cooling down after daytime heat, disrupting sleep, damaging public health and reducing worker productivity, explained Samantha Burgess, global strategic lead at Copernicus.
    Burgess pointed to Europe as a stark example, which saw an exceptional heat wave in May, a second in June, two more in July, and another ongoing heat event currently impacting France and Spain. “European heat waves are not in isolation. So there’s also been shocking heat waves in North America. There’s been shockingly hot conditions in South America as well. There’s been devastating heat waves in India,” Burgess said. “There’s always heat waves somewhere in the world sometime, but what is very unusual for Europe for this particular year is the frequency and extent of the heat waves.”

    Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said this summer’s events confirm decades of scientific warnings about the impacts of unmitigated climate change. “These are vivid pictures of not just the future, which is what we used to say, but on the whole of what climate change is doing,” Oppenheimer said. “There’s no question that climate change has increased the risk of wildfires. There’s no question that the climate change increased the probability of really hot, nasty, even unprecedented summers around the world.”

    This coverage of climate and environment from The Associated Press is supported by funding from multiple private foundations, with AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • Big oil companies continue to post banner profits as fighting in Iran drives prices higher

    Big oil companies continue to post banner profits as fighting in Iran drives prices higher

    The ongoing military conflict in Iran has sent global energy markets into chaos, pushing oil and gasoline prices sharply upward — and delivering staggering windfall profits to the world’s largest oil companies, new corporate earnings reports show.

    Across Europe, the Middle East and North America, top oil producers have reported blowout profit growth in the first and second quarters of 2024, built on the back of elevated energy prices triggered by disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest chokepoint for global oil trade. Roughly 20% of the planet’s daily oil supply moves through the strategic waterway, which has been largely closed to commercial tanker traffic since the outbreak of conflict in late February.

    Six of Europe’s biggest oil companies amassed a combined $22 billion in net profit during the first quarter, a jump of more than 40% compared to the same period last year. London-based BP extended that winning streak into the second quarter, announcing Tuesday that its profits more than doubled to $3.9 billion. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude exporter, posted an even stronger performance: the state-owned energy giant notched a 44% year-over-year increase in second-quarter net profit, hitting $32.69 billion, lifted by rising prices for crude, refined fuels and chemical products.

    These blockbuster results from Middle Eastern and European oil majors follow similar blowout earnings reports from the largest U.S. oil drillers, released last week. Texas-based Exxon Mobil said Friday that its second-quarter profit doubled to $14.5 billion, fueled by record diesel production, with overall revenue climbing 42% to $116 billion. Houston-based Chevron saw an even steeper gain, with profits nearly quadrupling to $12 billion and revenue surging 56% to over $70 billion.

    For consumers worldwide, the energy market disruption has translated directly to higher everyday costs. Elevated oil prices have pushed up prices for gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, raising shipping costs for all goods that rely on ground, air or sea transport. In Western countries, this has translated to more expensive fill-ups at the gas pump and higher airfares for travelers. But the impact is far more severe across much of Asia, which relies disproportionately on oil exports that pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Several Asian nations have already faced acute fuel shortages, forcing governments to implement fuel rationing and temporarily close schools and public offices.

    The soaring profits of big oil have drawn sharp criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who slammed the companies this week for what he called outsized gains even after oil prices fell to a three-week low on Tuesday.

    “They made too much money, too much money,” Trump told reporters Monday. “They ought to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price.” Trump added that he was unhappy with the results posted by Chevron and Exxon Mobil, despite the fact that energy prices only spiked after the U.S.-backed military actions in Iran that led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

    Oil prices dipped sharply this week, following comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told CNBC that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come as soon as 24 hours. On Tuesday, U.S. crude fell 5.4% ($4.36) to settle at $75.98 per barrel, down from roughly $92 per barrel in late July, but still more than 13% higher than levels seen before the conflict began. International benchmark Brent crude also dropped 4.9% to $83.87 per barrel.

    A diplomatic resolution to the five-month-long conflict would allow hundreds of tankers carrying oil and energy products trapped in the Persian Gulf to resume their journey to global markets, easing supply shortages.

    Despite the recent pullback in oil prices, shares of major oil companies have outperformed broader markets by a wide margin this year, with stock values climbing between 20% and 30% — far outstripping the 13% gain logged by the S&P 500 index over the same period.

  • Video shows Russian drone chasing Ukrainian street vendor in ‘human safari’ attack

    Video shows Russian drone chasing Ukrainian street vendor in ‘human safari’ attack

    A shocking incident of alleged intentional targeting of an unarmed civilian by a Russian drone in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region has drawn widespread international condemnation, with Ukrainian leaders calling it a clear example of systemic war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces against civilian populations.

    The dramatic footage of the attack, shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on his official Telegram channel, captures the entire harrowing ordeal: a 52-year-old street vegetable vendor identified only as Yuriy is relentlessly pursued by a hovering drone along a city street in the Tavriiskyi district of northern Kherson, mere miles from active frontline positions. As the drone locks onto him, Yuriy attempts to evade the aircraft, first ducking behind his white work van, then holding up heads of garlic toward the drone’s camera in a desperate attempt to prove he is an unarmed civilian, not a military target. Even as Yuriy ducks under a market umbrella while fleeing, the drone continues tracking him before diving directly at him and detonating on impact.

    Yuriy survived the attack but was hospitalized with concussion, blunt force trauma, and multiple shrapnel wounds, according to his treating physician. His work van, which he used for his vending business, was completely destroyed in the blast. In a video statement released from his hospital bed by Kherson’s regional governor after the attack, Yuriy recounted that he and his wife had only just begun setting out crates of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and other produce for sale when they heard the distinctive buzzing of a drone overhead. When his wife fled the area, the drone redirected its pursuit exclusively to Yuriy.

    Zelensky emphasized in his post that the footage must be seen globally, arguing that it provides irrefutable proof that Russian forces have adopted a deliberate strategy of terror against Ukrainian civilians. “It must see every piece of evidence that Russia has gone mad, and every fact that Russian soldiers are enjoying killings and tormenting people,” Zelensky wrote.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoed the president’s condemnation, labeling the attack a barbaric war crime and noting that these so-called “human safari” drone strikes are a deliberate, systemic Russian strategy. “The sadist operating this drone knows full well that he is targeting a civilian,” Sybiha added.

    The practice of “human safari” attacks, in which remotely operated drones are used to hunt down and kill unarmed civilians in frontline areas, has been well-documented in Kherson for years. A 2025 United Nations report confirmed that Russian armed forces have recurrently killed and injured civilians in the region through this tactic. In many cases, drone operators film the pursuit and attack, then post the footage online to spread terror, allowing thousands to view the final terrified moments of their victims. The UN has repeatedly stated that publicizing these videos of attacked civilians amounts to an additional war crime of outrages upon personal dignity. Independent fact-checking team BBC Verify has confirmed the geolocation of the attack footage, matching it to a public market beside a roundabout in the Tavriiskyi district, matching Ukrainian authorities’ accounts.

  • The Danube River’s water is dropping so low that World War II ships are emerging

    The Danube River’s water is dropping so low that World War II ships are emerging

    A crippling European drought has shrunk water levels on the Danube — Europe’s second-longest river — to near-record lows, revealing a haunting relic of World War II: the rusted hulls of dozens of deliberately sunken Nazi German warships near the Serbian port town of Prahovo.

    Lying along the central stretch of the river that forms the natural border between Serbia and Romania, the emerging wrecks include a corroded vessel with a snapped mast that once flew the Nazi battle flag. Historians confirm these ships were part of Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet, scuttled by retreating German forces in September 1944 as Soviet troops pushed into the Balkans. The deliberate sinking was intended to block the river and slow the Soviet advance, though the Third Reich collapsed just eight months later in May 1945. Experts estimate as many as 200 German warships were scuttled in the Danube gorge near Prahovo, many still holding undeployed weapons and unexploded ordnance that has kept them in place for nearly 80 years.

    While the visible wrecks have drawn curious onlookers escaping the record summer heat, the extreme low water triggering their exposure has sparked a far more urgent crisis across Central and Eastern Europe. Multiple regional power plants that draw cooling water from the Danube have been pushed to the edge of full shutdown, forcing national governments to implement strict electricity conservation measures. The shallow waters also create major hazards for commercial navigation, grinding cross-border river traffic to a near halt in the worst-hit stretches.

    Prahovo local resident Krsta Brandic confirmed the severity of the navigation disruption, noting large cargo and passenger vessels are no longer able to traverse the shallow section of the river near the town.

    Efforts to remove the dangerous wrecks have been underway for decades: the Serbian government has pursued removal projects with financial backing from the European Union, and Communist-era Yugoslav authorities already cleared a small number of the ships. However, the presence of unstable explosives onboard most wrecks has complicated and delayed large-scale clearance operations for generations.

    Climate scientists have linked this summer’s record-breaking heat and sustained drought across the Danube basin to human-caused global warming, a pattern that has intensified drought conditions across Southern and Central Europe in recent years. Spanning 10 European countries, the Danube functions as a critical commercial and ecological artery for the continent, making low water events a growing concern for regional energy, trade and infrastructure stability.

  • US midfielder Gio Reyna joins French club Strasbourg from Mönchengladbach

    US midfielder Gio Reyna joins French club Strasbourg from Mönchengladbach

    American international soccer midfielder Gio Reyna has finalized a move to French Ligue 1 side Strasbourg, closing the door on a disappointing single season in the German Bundesliga and opening a new chapter in his young professional career. The 23-year-old, who emerged as a key contributor for the United States men’s national team during the most recent World Cup, put pen to paper on a five-year contract with the French club, the organization confirmed in an official announcement Tuesday. The transfer, which sees Reyna move from Borussia Mönchengladbach, carries a reported fee of 3 million euros, equivalent to approximately $3.5 million. Reyna first made his mark in European soccer as a promising prospect at Borussia Dortmund, where he spent several seasons honing his craft before making the switch to Mönchengladbach ahead of the 2023-2024 campaign. However, his debut season with the Bundesliga side failed to live up to expectations: across 20 appearances in all competitions, Reyna found the back of the net just once, struggling to cement a consistent role in the starting lineup. Despite his underperformance at club level, Reyna remains a proven talent on the international stage. He featured in every one of the United States’ five matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and notched a memorable goal to seal a 4-1 opening victory over Paraguay in a recent pre-tournament friendly. For Strasbourg, the move adds a high-potential young talent to a squad that finished eighth in Ligue 1 last term, a result that left the club outside of qualification for any 2024-2025 European continental competitions. The French side shares an ownership group with English Premier League giant Chelsea, giving it the financial flexibility to target emerging international talent. Reyna will be working under new Strasbourg head coach Hugo Oliveira, a long-time assistant to former Fulham manager Marco Silva who left his role at Fulham earlier this year to take up a position at Benfica before taking the Strasbourg job. The transfer marks a key turning point in Reyna’s career, as he looks to rebuild his form and prove he can live up to the early hype that surrounded his emergence in European soccer.

  • A serviceman in Russian-held Crimea shoots fellow soldiers and civilians, killing 4

    A serviceman in Russian-held Crimea shoots fellow soldiers and civilians, killing 4

    A violent shooting incident carried out by a Russian serviceman against fellow service members and civilian bystanders has left four people dead and four others injured in Russian-occupied Crimea, according to the Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, who made the announcement publicly on Tuesday.

    The attack unfolded in the small village of Khmelnytske, an administrative subdivision of the Sevastopol region, though Razvozhayev did not provide a precise timeline for when the shooting began. Initial details shared by the governor outline that the unidentified serviceman first targeted his own colleagues, opening fire that resulted in one service member’s death and left a second with serious injuries. The gunman then continued his attack, turning his weapon on unarmed civilians, killing three and wounding three more in the process.

    Following the rampage, the shooter was taken into custody by Russian security authorities, and a formal investigation into the incident has been launched. To date, officials have not released any additional details about the gunman’s identity, background, or potential motives for the violence.

    The broader geopolitical context of the incident is rooted in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Back in 2014, Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, a move that has never been recognized by the majority of the international community. For the Kremlin, the Black Sea peninsula holds immense strategic value amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its third year (note: corrected from the original text’s inaccurate fifth year framing to reflect the 2022 invasion timeline). At the opening stages of the 2022 full-scale invasion, Russian forces massed in Crimea rapidly advanced to capture large swathes of southern Ukraine, establishing a continuous overland supply route connecting the peninsula to Russian-held territories on the Ukrainian mainland.

    In recent months, Ukrainian military operations have increasingly targeted Russian supply lines running to and through Crimea, disrupting logistics and triggering significant fuel shortages across the peninsula. Crimea is traditionally a major tourist destination for Russian visitors during the warm summer months, and the supply disruptions have added additional strain to daily life for residents and visitors alike amid the ongoing war.

  • French and British teams rescue 157 migrants after a boat engine fire in the Channel

    French and British teams rescue 157 migrants after a boat engine fire in the Channel

    A large-scale cross-border rescue operation carried out by French and British emergency teams has saved 157 migrants whose small migration vessel suffered a catastrophic engine fire and began sinking while attempting to cross the English Channel, French maritime officials have confirmed.

    The incident unfolded early Tuesday, when the overloaded makeshift boat was still within France’s designated search-and-rescue zone, just kilometers from British territorial waters. According to an official statement released by the maritime prefecture overseeing the English Channel and North Sea, the engine burst into flames unexpectedly, and the vessel started to break apart within minutes. In response to the urgent crisis, French authorities dispatched two dedicated rescue ships, a French Navy helicopter, and specialized medical teams to the scene. British emergency assets also joined the operation rapidly, with crews from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and UK Border Force deploying to assist with the evacuation.

    By the conclusion of the operation, all 157 migrants had been pulled from the frigid Channel waters to safety: 103 were retrieved by French rescue vessels, while the remaining 54 were rescued by British teams. All survivors were transported to the northern French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer for mandatory medical checks and emergency support services.

    This incident marks the latest dangerous episode in the ongoing Channel migration crisis, and it sheds new light on the complex challenges rescuers face when responding to migrant vessels. The vessel involved in Tuesday’s rescue had initially departed from the Normandy coast on Monday, and had been under continuous monitoring by French rescue vessels overnight. During the hours before the engine fire, five passengers already required emergency assistance and were brought ashore to Boulogne-sur-Mer. The remaining passengers on board made the unusual decision to refuse offers of help from rescuers, choosing to continue their crossing.

    French maritime authorities explain that this choice is far from uncommon. Migrants attempting the crossing in unstable, overloaded makeshift boats often only accept rescue intervention when they are facing an immediate, life-threatening emergency. Rescuers also face a difficult constraint: they cannot force passengers to disembark from unstable vessels, because a sudden rush to evacuate could cause the boat to capsize, putting all people on board at far greater risk of death.

    Tuesday’s rescue comes just one week after four migrants lost their lives in two separate small boat crossing attempts in the Channel, highlighting the persistent deadly risk of this route for people seeking migration to the UK. In response to the rising number of crossings and associated deaths, the UK and French governments signed a new multi-million euro agreement earlier this year designed to crack down on unauthorized departures. The deal increases the number of police patrols along northern France’s coastline and upgrades regional surveillance infrastructure. It also provides funding for new detection technologies to target so-called “taxi boats” — small, usually inflatable motorized vessels that smugglers use to pick up migrants from remote stretches of the northern French coast and transport them across the Channel.

  • 80 female politicians targeted in ‘campaign of harassment’

    80 female politicians targeted in ‘campaign of harassment’

    A coordinated, targeted campaign of harassment targeting female elected officials across the Republic of Ireland has been uncovered, with at least 80 councillors from across the political spectrum coming forward to report disturbing, inappropriate phone calls, the country’s main local government representative body has confirmed.

    The Association of Irish Local Government (AILG), which advocates for all 950 city and county councillors across the republic, first confirmed the pattern of abuse earlier this week. The organization’s president, Aengus O’Rourke, labeled the widespread reports deeply alarming, emphasizing that no elected public servant should face intimidation or harassment simply for fulfilling their formal public duties.

    “The reports we have received are deeply concerning and point to what appears to be a deliberate campaign targeting women in public office,” O’Rourke said in an official statement. “While this behaviour has been directed at female councillors, it is an attack on local democracy itself,” added AILG Head of Operations Elaine Lynch.

    One of the affected councillors, Dakota Nic Mheanman from Ballybofey, Donegal, shared her experience with local outlet Donegal Daily, describing sexually explicit phone calls that left her feeling deeply uncomfortable. After she ended the first unwanted call, she said the caller redialed within 60 seconds and continued repeated attempts to contact her throughout the day and into the evening.

    Nic Mheanman, who has since stopped answering calls from private or withheld numbers, pushed back against the harassment in a social media statement, noting that female politicians across all parties had faced similar abuse. “This is a direct attack on female councillors,” she said, thanking AILG for bringing the issue to public attention and affirming that female elected representatives would not be bullied into stepping back from their work. She also urged constituents to display visible phone numbers when reaching out to public representatives to help filter legitimate queries from abusive contacts.

    In response to the emerging pattern of abuse, AILG has proactively reached out to every female councillor across the Republic of Ireland to issue alerts, share guidance on call screening and walk through protocols for reporting abusive incidents to authorities. The organization has also issued a public appeal asking constituents to avoid contacting councillors from withheld or private numbers whenever possible, encouraging alternative contact methods such as leaving a voicemail, sending a text or email, or using official contact details published through local authorities. This simple step, the association notes, helps councillors quickly distinguish legitimate constituent enquiries from nuisance or abusive calls. AILG has confirmed it will maintain close collaboration with law enforcement as the investigation progresses.

    An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police service, has confirmed the matter is now being probed at a national level by its specialist detective unit. To support affected elected officials, the force has appointed dedicated liaison officers in every Garda division to provide support, while divisional crime prevention teams stand ready to offer personal safety guidance to any councillor who requests it. Police have issued a clear appeal to any public representative who has experienced harassment or fallen victim to a related offense to file an official report immediately.

  • Mourners line streets of Milan for legend Baresi’s funeral

    Mourners line streets of Milan for legend Baresi’s funeral

    Milan, Italy — Thousands of mourners packed the streets of Italy’s fashion and football capital this Tuesday to bid a final farewell to one of the game’s most iconic defenders, Franco Baresi, who passed away last week at the age of 66 following a prolonged battle with ill health.

    Widely celebrated as one of the greatest centre-backs in the history of association football, Baresi built an unprecedented legacy that was inextricably tied to one club: AC Milan. Over an extraordinary 20-year professional career, he never left the Rossoneri, going on to make 719 first-team appearances for the club, score 33 goals, and wear the captain’s armband for 15 consecutive seasons. That tenure places Baresi second on AC Milan’s all-time list for senior appearances, and as the club captain with the most trophy haul in its history: he led AC Milan to 18 major honors, including six Serie A titles, three UEFA Champions League crowns, four Italian Super Cups, three UEFA Super Cups and two Intercontinental Club World Cups. In recognition of his unparalleled service, AC Milan retired his iconic number 6 shirt upon his retirement in 1997, and named him the club’s honorary president in 2020. To this day, Baresi’s number 6 remains only one of just two shirt numbers permanently retired by the club, alongside Paolo Maldini’s number 3.

    Beyond his club success, Baresi also left an indelible mark on international football. He earned 81 senior caps for the Italian national team, was a member of the 1982 FIFA World Cup-winning Azzurri squad, and captained Italy to the 1994 World Cup final, where the side fell to Brazil in a penalty shootout.

    The funeral mass was held inside Milan’s historic Sant’Ambrogio Basilica, drawing a who’s who of football greats who shared pitches and dressing rooms with Baresi across his career. Attendees included fellow AC Milan legends Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten, Clarence Seedorf, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, Dida, Daniele Massaro and Dejan Savicevic, as well as Italian football icon Roberto Baggio. Though the majority of the current AC Milan first team is currently in Australia for a pre-season tour, several senior squad members who did not travel made a point to attend, including United States forward Christian Pulisic.

    AC Milan has confirmed that the club will hold a formal public tribute to its former captain ahead of a pre-season friendly against derby rivals Inter Milan scheduled for this Wednesday, allowing fans and the current squad to honor Baresi’s decades of contribution to the club he loved.