The complicated, ever-shifting dynamic between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron will take center stage next week at the G7 summit in the French alpine resort of Evian-les-Bains, as years of growing tensions over key global policy issues threaten to overshadow the gathering of the world’s major advanced economies. What began with a legendary, knuckle-white first handshake nearly a decade ago has devolved into open disagreement, marking a stark reversal of the warm, much-hyped “bromance” that defined the pair’s early interactions.
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Ukraine hits fuel supplies to Crimea, sparking a fuel crisis on the Russian-held peninsula
A sustained and increasingly effective campaign of drone strikes by Ukrainian forces has plunged the Russian-occupied Black Sea peninsula of Crimea into its most severe fuel crisis since Moscow’s illegal 2014 annexation, delivering a fresh blow to the Kremlin’s claim of progress in its four-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The coordinated strikes have targeted critical energy infrastructure deep inside Russia, supply routes along the land corridor connecting mainland Russia to Crimea, and key transport links into the peninsula, leaving tanker trucks charred along highways, stranding motorists in multi-hour queues at gas stations, and forcing occupied authorities to implement strict fuel rationing. As the crisis unfolded as Russia marked its annual Russia Day holiday, the unofficial kickoff to the summer tourist season that Crimea’s economy depends heavily on, the damage has already rippled through the region’s vital hospitality sector.
To understand the stakes of this escalation, it is necessary to contextualize Crimea’s long-standing strategic and symbolic importance to the Kremlin. First seized by the Russian Empire from the Crimean Tatars in the 18th century following a victory over the Ottoman Empire, the peninsula was transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine in 1954 by then-leader Nikita Khrushchev. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Crimea became part of the newly independent Ukrainian state, though Moscow maintained a large naval base at Sevastopol under a long-term lease. In 2014, following the ousting of a pro-Moscow Ukrainian president by a popular pro-European uprising, Putin deployed unmarked troops to seize control of Crimea, and oversaw a widely unrecognized referendum to formalize its annexation. The move triggered a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that simmered until Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022; early in that invasion, Russian forces based in Crimea seized large swathes of southern Ukraine and secured the overland corridor to the peninsula that remains Moscow’s primary supply route today.
Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian assets in and around Crimea to erode Moscow’s control. Ukrainian strikes have sunk multiple Russian warships at Crimean bases, severely degrading Russia’s Black Sea Fleet capabilities and forcing most of the fleet to redeploy to the far eastern Russian port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine has also repeatedly targeted the Kerch Strait Bridge, the iconic fixed span that directly connects mainland Russia to Crimea, which Putin has long framed as a symbol of his regime’s success in annexing the peninsula. An October 2022 truck bombing on the bridge killed five people, destroyed two large spans, and required months of reconstruction, with additional successful strikes following in 2023 and 2025.
After repeated attacks on the Kerch Bridge left it unsafe for large-scale fuel shipments, Russia shifted most fuel and critical supplies to the overland highway and rail corridor running through occupied territories along the Sea of Azov coast, a route that Russian military planners once considered far more secure than the bridge. That assumption has proven catastrophic: last month, Ukrainian drones struck a convoy of fuel trucks traveling the corridor, leaving dozens of vehicles burned out. In recent weeks, the strikes have only intensified. This week alone, Ukrainian forces repeatedly hit the Chonhar Bridge, another key crossing linking occupied mainland Ukraine to Crimea, disrupting all movement across the span and forcing occupation authorities to deploy temporary pontoon bridges to restore limited access. Ukrainian military officials confirmed the Chonhar strike was intended to cut off Russian military movements of troops, ammunition and fuel into and out of the peninsula.
Compounding the supply crunch, Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign has targeted refineries, oil storage depots and pipeline infrastructure hundreds of kilometers inside Russian territory, eroding Russia’s total domestic fuel production capacity even as demand rises ahead of the summer travel season. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has highlighted the strategic synergy of Ukraine’s dual strike campaign: long-range attacks cut Russia’s ability to produce fuel, while mid-range strikes on supply lines disrupt what little fuel Russia is still able to route to occupied Crimea.
“The long-range strike campaign is therefore reducing Russia’s production capacity, while the midrange strike campaign is hurting Russia’s ability to transport the gasoline Russia is still able to produce,” the ISW explained in its recent analysis.
The acute fuel shortage is already being felt acutely by civilian residents and tourists in Crimea. While the peninsula has experienced periodic supply disruptions from Ukrainian strikes in past years, current shortages represent the worst crisis since the 2014 annexation. In late May, occupation authorities introduced strict rationing, capping sales at just 20 liters of gasoline per vehicle per week, distributed via prepaid coupons. The entire allocation of coupons sold out within minutes of being released on an official government messaging channel, leaving motorists waiting for hours in snaking lines at the few stations still selling fuel.
Social media platforms have been flooded with residents sharing tips for locating scarce fuel and pleas for assistance, while authorities have launched a dedicated hotline to assist tourists who have found themselves stranded without fuel. While ferries have supplemented fuel shipments from mainland Russia after Kerch Bridge traffic was restricted, and private motorists are allowed to bring up to 100 liters of fuel into Crimea per vehicle from the mainland, the additional supply has been far too little to meet demand. Unregulated black market speculators are now selling gasoline at twice the official market price.
The crisis has already delivered a severe blow to Crimea’s tourism sector, which is the backbone of the local economy. The peninsula drew nearly 7 million Russian tourists in 2024, and occupation officials had projected an even higher number for the 2025 summer season. However, business daily Kommersant reports that roughly 80% of hotel bookings were canceled in late May and early June as travelers avoid the unstable region. Some hotels have even begun offering free gasoline as a booking incentive to attract hesitant visitors, offers that were immediately taken up by the few travelers still planning trips.
Recent attacks on passenger rail lines have further eroded traveler confidence. Earlier this week, a Ukrainian drone strike hit a passenger train traveling from Moscow to Crimea, wounding the engineer and killing his assistant, forcing a temporary suspension of all rail service and the evacuation of passengers by bus. A prior strike on a commuter train in Crimea killed one person and injured three others, prompting occupation authorities to cut daytime service over security concerns.
In a rare public acknowledgment of the scope of the crisis, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this week that widespread fuel shortages exist and pledged that authorities are taking urgent measures to resolve the issue. The Russian Defense Ministry has remained publicly silent on the repeated strikes along the Crimean land corridor, but prominent Russian pro-war military bloggers have fiercely criticized the military establishment for failing to anticipate the Ukrainian campaign and mounting a glacial, ineffective response. Some bloggers have called for mandatory military escorts for all fuel convoys traveling the corridor, while others have urged the Russian military to escalate strikes on Ukrainian energy and transport infrastructure in retaliation.
As the fuel crisis and internal criticism continued to unfold, Ukraine delivered an additional symbolic blow to Moscow this week, striking a historic landmark in Sevastopol that houses a massive panoramic painting commemorating the 19th century Russian defense of the city during the Crimean War. According to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed mayor of Sevastopol, the painting was completely destroyed in the fire that followed the strike. Given Putin’s long-standing framing of the 2014 annexation of Crimea as a fulfillment of Russian imperial and historical destiny, pro-war blogger Valery Shiryayev noted the attack would be particularly infuriating to the Russian leader.
“It’s hard to find another work of art, another part of national heritage, whose destruction would be as painful for Putin,” Shiryayev said.
As of Thursday, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 1,569th day, surpassing the total duration of World War I, with Russian frontline advances having ground to a near standstill even as Ukraine demonstrates growing capability to strike deep into Russian-held and Russian territory.
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Sweden ditches plan to imprison 13-year-old serious offenders
Sweden’s center-right government has abandoned its controversial proposal to allow imprisonment of serious offenders as young as 13, after failing to secure enough parliamentary backing for the two-year reduction in the age of criminal responsibility. Instead, the administration will push forward a more modest overhaul, lowering the current threshold of 15 to 15, the legislative text expected to be drafted ahead of September’s national general election. The policy shift comes as Sweden grapples with a growing national crisis of underage recruitment into violent organized criminal networks, a trend that has reshaped the country’s long-stable security landscape.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer explained that the revised reform is designed to address gaps in the current justice system, which currently sentences convicted children under 15 to placement in state-run youth care homes, known as SiS homes. Under existing rules, youth convicted of violent offenses cannot be held in standard prison facilities. Strömmer argued that the current framework fails both public safety and offender rehabilitation, noting that SiS placements have been linked to higher rates of recidivism among young violent offenders. “By lowering the age of criminal responsibility, we can impose fairer, proportionate sanctions and create better conditions for rehabilitation than we can today,” he told reporters, adding that the core goal of the policy is to “protect society from life-threatening crime, and protect crime victims — who are often children themselves.”
Eight existing adult prisons have already been instructed to set up dedicated, isolated sections to house young offenders, separated completely from the adult inmate population to prevent radicalization and exploitation. According to government data, more than 50 children under the age of 15 appeared in Swedish courts last year facing charges of murder or attempted murder, a statistic that underscores the severity of the youth violence crisis.
The push for reform comes amid a decade-long shift in Sweden’s homicide trends: the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) recorded a substantial overall increase in homicides over the past 10 years, rising from 87 murders in 2014 to 121 in 2023, though the total fell to 92 in 2024 as law enforcement cracked down on major gang networks. Much of the recent violence can be traced to a brutal turf war between two of Sweden’s most powerful criminal organizations: the Foxtrot gang, led by fugitive Rawa Majid, and the rival Rumba gang headed by Ismail Abdo. The conflict, which peaked in 2023, has seen gangs increasingly exploit underage members to carry out high-risk attacks, from targeted shootings and bombings to contract killings. Abdo was arrested in Turkey in 2025, while Majid is believed to be hiding in the Middle East, and both the United States and United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Foxtrot and its leader last year over their alleged ties to foreign interference.
In a troubling development that has drawn international attention, multiple recent attacks on Israeli-linked targets in Sweden — including an attack on defense contractor Elbit Systems’ Gothenburg facility and the Israeli embassy in Stockholm — have involved suspects as young as 13 and 14. Sweden’s domestic security service Säpo has publicly linked these plots to Iran, accusing the Iranian government of recruiting Swedish gang members to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe. Iran’s foreign ministry has repeatedly rejected the claims as “unfounded and biased,” asserting the accusations are rooted in misinformation spread by Israel. The 2025 US and UK sanctions explicitly cited Foxtrot’s role in carrying out “violence against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe on behalf of the Iranian regime.”
Not all stakeholders support the government’s criminal age reform plan. Maria Frisk, secretary-general of leading Swedish children’s rights organization Bris, argued that the solution to youth violence lies not in lowering the age of criminal responsibility, but in strengthening the underfunded and overstretched SiS youth home system. “Nothing indicates that lowering the age to 14 will turn the situation around,” she said in a public statement. Critics have also pointed out that SiS homes themselves have increasingly become recruitment grounds for criminal networks in recent years, as young offenders are exposed to established gang members within the care system, perpetuating a cycle of violence.
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Here’s how to avoid heat-related illnesses and stay cool this summer
BERLIN – A new warning from the World Health Organization’s European regional office has underscored the deadly human cost of rising global temperatures, announcing Thursday that more than 200,000 people across the continent have died from heat-related causes over the past four years — and the vast majority of these fatalities could have been avoided.
As communities across the Northern Hemisphere brace for what could be another record-breaking summer of above-average temperatures, public health officials stress that extreme heat is far more than just an uncomfortable nuisance. Unregulated exposure to sustained high temperatures can trigger heat exhaustion, and progress to life-threatening heat stroke that requires immediate medical intervention.
Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director for WHO Europe, framed the escalating heat crisis as an immediate consequence of human-caused climate change in an official public statement. “The impacts of climate change are a clear and present danger, and its most immediate and lethal manifestation is extreme heat,” Kluge said. “Heatwaves are no longer freak weather anomalies. They are now a recurring crisis inflicting suffering, claiming lives and fracturing our health systems and infrastructure.”
The agency is pushing national governments and local public health institutions across Europe to roll out comprehensive heat action plans immediately. Recommended interventions range from opening free, accessible public cooling centers for at-risk communities to implementing mandatory heat safety policies for workplaces, including scheduled outdoor work breaks and flexible shift scheduling that keeps employees out of the dangerous midday sun. Kluge emphasized that the long-term public health goal is non-negotiable: “Our goal is clear and our ambition is bold: zero heat-related deaths.”
The WHO’s warning came on the same day that global meteorologists confirmed the development of a new El Niño event in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Characterized by unusual natural warming of Pacific surface waters, El Niño is already projected to strengthen to potentially historic levels through the Northern Hemisphere summer and fall. Climate scientists explain that this natural climate cycle will amplify the existing long-term warming driven by decades of fossil fuel emissions, creating a high risk of turbocharged extreme weather events across every continent.
To help people protect themselves from heat-related illness this summer, WHO has published a set of clear, evidence-based public safety guidelines:
First, limit exposure during the peak heat window. The hottest hours of most summer days typically fall between mid-morning and late afternoon, so officials advise staying indoors or in shaded areas during this window when possible. If outdoor work or travel is unavoidable, avoid strenuous activity and prioritize shaded rest stops. WHO also recommends spending at least two to three hours in a cool environment every day during heatwaves, and reminds the public to regularly check official local heat warning updates to stay informed of changing conditions.
Second, take proactive steps to cool indoor living spaces. During daytime hours, close all windows and cover exposed glass with blinds, curtains or external shutters to block hot incoming sunlight. Once temperatures drop after dark, open windows to let in cool evening air. For households with air conditioning, WHO recommends setting thermostats to 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) and pairing cooling with a fan to boost comfort while reducing energy use. The agency also noted that low-income urban and rural communities are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat, as substandard housing and lack of access to affordable cooling technology leaves them far more exposed to dangerous indoor overheating.
Third, maintain hydration and dress appropriately for hot conditions. Public health officials advise drinking one cup of water per hour even if you do not feel thirsty, to avoid gradual dehydration that can lead to serious health complications. Regular cool showers or baths are an effective way to lower core body temperature, and when those are not available, wiping skin with a cool damp cloth or using a mist spray can provide relief. Clothing should be lightweight, loose-fitting and light-colored to reflect sunlight, and the same rule applies to bed linens for overnight cooling. Anyone heading outdoors should also wear a wide-brimmed hat, UV-protective sunglasses and high-SPF sunscreen to avoid additional sun-related health risks.
Finally, prioritize protection for the most vulnerable population groups. WHO repeatedly stresses that children and pets should never be left inside a parked vehicle, even for a few minutes: internal temperatures can spike to deadly levels in as little as 10 minutes under direct sun. For caregivers pushing baby strollers, covering the carriage with a thin wet cloth provides cooling shade, while dry cloth traps heat and raises internal temperatures to dangerous levels — adding a small portable fan can also improve airflow for infants. Regular check-ins are critical for at-risk groups including adults over 65, people living with disabilities, and those with preexisting heart, lung or kidney conditions, as well as people who live alone who may not have anyone to help them if they become ill from heat. Manual laborers and other outdoor workers are also at especially high risk when work schedules do not allow for heat-related adjustments.
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Europe’s central bank raises rates to fight inflation from Iran war, the Fed to decide next week
FRANKFURT, Germany — In a landmark policy shift triggered by the economic fallout of the ongoing Iran conflict, the European Central Bank (ECB) has become the first major global central bank to lift interest rates to counter surging inflation fueled by skyrocketing oil prices. The decision on Thursday puts the ECB ahead of next week’s highly anticipated rate-setting gatherings of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Bank of England, as central bankers worldwide grapple with the dual challenge of taming price growth and protecting fragile economic expansion.
The ECB’s 25-basis-point increase lifts its benchmark policy rate from 2% — a level held steady for 12 months — to 2.25%. The move comes in direct response to a sharp spike in global crude prices triggered by Iran’s disruption of crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and fuel trade. The strait has remained closed to most commercial vessel traffic for 103 days as of the ECB’s announcement.
Global benchmark Brent crude traded around $93 per barrel on Thursday, a roughly 27% jump from the $73 per barrel recorded on the eve of the outbreak of the Iran war. The energy price shock has already pushed eurozone inflation to 3.2% in May, well above the ECB’s 2% medium-term target. Higher oil and fuel costs feed directly into price increases for gasoline, diesel, cooking gas, heating oil and a wide range of petroleum-derived products, driving up overall consumer prices. The rate hike is designed to cool consumer and business demand, easing upward pressure on prices as energy costs surge.
But the ECB’s policy move balances inflation concerns against a backdrop of lackluster eurozone economic growth, leading many market analysts to forecast the increase will be a one-off adjustment rather than the start of a prolonged tightening cycle. The step is widely interpreted as a proactive signal to financial markets that the central bank is committed to preventing inflation from spiraling out of control.
Speaking at a post-meeting press conference, ECB President Christine Lagarde emphasized that future policy decisions will remain contingent on evolving economic data, particularly the duration and magnitude of elevated energy prices. “We are well positioned to navigate the uncertainty caused by the war, and we will closely monitor the situation and follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach,” Lagarde stated, adding that the bank is “not pre-committing to a particular rate path.” She also warned that inflation would likely climb further over the summer months and remain above the ECB’s target well into the first half of next year.
The ECB’s action follows smaller rate increases from central banks in Australia and the Philippines since the Iran conflict began, and market attention is now turning to upcoming policy decisions from the world’s largest central banks. For the U.S. Federal Reserve, led by newly appointed Chair Kevin Warsh — tapped for the role by President Donald Trump earlier this year — most economists expect policymakers to hold interest rates steady at next week’s meeting.
Warsh publicly advocated for rate cuts last year, and Trump repeatedly criticized Warsh’s predecessor Jerome Powell for refusing to implement deeper rate reductions. But amid a post-war inflation surge that has pushed U.S. inflation above 4% — a three-year high — Trump and his administration have shifted their stance, now favoring keeping borrowing costs unchanged. Market observers expect the Fed to remove language from its post-meeting statement that previously signaled the next policy move would be a rate cut, clearing the way for a potential rate increase before the end of 2025 if inflation does not cool. Multiple Fed officials have already warned that sustained above-target inflation could force a rate hike by year’s end.
Higher central bank benchmark rates ripple through the broader economy, pushing up borrowing costs for everything from home mortgages and corporate investment to government debt. By making credit more expensive, rate increases reduce overall demand for goods and services, which in turn eases upward pressure on prices.
Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro research at ING Bank, argued the ECB may only need one or two additional small hikes to keep inflation in check, as the current inflation surge may be less persistent than feared. Brzeski noted that consumers still grappling with the aftermath of post-pandemic inflation have little appetite to absorb further price increases, forcing businesses to absorb higher energy costs rather than pass them on to shoppers. “The pass-through of higher energy and input prices to final consumption will be limited due to a lack of ability and willingness of consumers to actually pay for these higher prices,” Brzeski explained in a emailed analysis.
This report was compiled with additional reporting from Rugaber in Washington.
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Vendee Globe winner Dalin dies aged 42
The world of elite sailing is in mourning this week following the death of iconic French skipper Charlie Dalin, 42-year-old winner of the 2024-25 Vendee Globe, who passed away after a years-long fight with a rare form of gastrointestinal cancer. Dalin’s wife Perrine Le Pape confirmed the news in a statement sent to French news agency AFP on Thursday, saying, “It is with deep sadness that my family and I announce the passing of my husband, Charlie Dalin, following a long illness.”
What made Dalin’s historic Vendee Globe victory all the more extraordinary is that he was battling his cancer diagnosis throughout the entire grueling non-stop race. In October of last year, the skipper revealed the full scope of his health struggle in a published memoir, disclosing that he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor just days before the 2024-25 Vendee Globe got underway. After urgent initial treatment, he returned to the starting line of sailing’s most punishing solo event and received ongoing immunotherapy treatment while navigating the full 24,300-mile course entirely alone.
Dalin completed the round-the-world route in a blistering record time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds, smashing the previous benchmark set by Armel Le Cleac’h in 2017 by more than nine days. When he crossed the finish line in January 2025 to claim victory in the 10th edition of the iconic race, he was met by his wife and their young son Oscar, joining him on his boat for the emotional celebration. At the end of the race, he held a lead of more than half a day over his nearest competitor, a gap that cemented his status as one of the sport’s all-time great performers.
This was not Dalin’s first run at Vendee Globe glory. In the 2020-21 edition of the race, he crossed the finish line first, only to be relegated to second place overall after competitor Yannick Bestaven received a time bonus for rescuing a fellow skipper in distress. Dalin took the setback with characteristic grace, and remained a beloved figure across the sailing community for his sportsmanship and resilience.
In late 2023, Dalin was forced to withdraw from the Transat Jacques Vabre race due to an undisclosed medical issue, sparking widespread speculation about his health that he did not address until the release of his memoir months later. Up until that October announcement, only a small inner circle knew of his diagnosis and ongoing treatment as he continued to compete at the highest level of the sport.
Tributes have already begun pouring in from across the global sailing community, honoring Dalin not just for his historic on-water achievements, but for the extraordinary courage he displayed in competing at the highest level while facing a life-threatening illness.
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Vendee Globe record winner Charlie Dalin dies at 42 after cancer battle
The world of competitive sailing is in mourning this week after the announcement that Charlie Dalin, the iconic French skipper who claimed victory in the 2024-25 Vendee Globe round-the-world race in record time, has passed away at age 42 following a battle with gastrointestinal cancer. Vendee Globe organizers confirmed his death in an official statement released Thursday, drawing tributes from across the global sailing community and French political leadership.
French President Emmanuel Macron honored Dalin’s legacy in a public note, calling him “an extraordinary sailor, a rare example of courage, a guiding light on the open sea.” What makes Dalin’s final victory all the more remarkable is that he kept his 2023 cancer diagnosis private throughout the grueling 2024-25 race, pushing through the challenge to set a new benchmark that has redefined single-handed ocean sailing.
Dalin’s path to the 2024-25 championship was years in the making, marked by near-misses and extraordinary resilience. In the 2021 edition of the four-year race, he crossed the finish line first after 80 days at sea, but was ultimately stripped of the top spot when competitor Yannick Bestaven was awarded a 10-hour time bonus for assisting in the rescue of another sailor. Bestaven’s adjusted finishing time ended up more than two hours faster than Dalin’s, leaving the French skipper with a second-place finish that stung.
That disappointment faded at the 2024-25 race, which starts and ends at the Atlantic coastal port of Les Sables-d’Olonne in western France. Dalin delivered a masterclass performance, smashing the previous race record held by Armel Le Cleac’h by more than nine days. He finished the grueling 24,000-nautical-mile journey in just 64 days, 19 hours, and 22 minutes at the helm of his yacht *MACIF Santé Prévoyance*, claiming the long-awaited win he had worked decades to earn. Throughout the race, he led the competing fleet for a total of 42 days, finishing nearly 10 days ahead of the previous benchmark.
Yoann Richomme, Dalin’s closest competitor in the 2024-25 Vendee Globe and a friend of decades, shared a heartfelt tribute to Dalin on social media following the announcement of his death. “What a remarkable fight you waged against this cruel illness. I am deeply impressed by your perseverance and optimism, right up to your final days,” Richomme wrote. “Our battles on the water, from our first tacks in the Figaro class, eventually led us to that fierce contest during the last Vendée Globe, which thrilled us so much. I cherished the years we spent together, the hearty laughs we shared, and our mutual determination to always give our very best on the water.”
Born in Le Havre, Normandy, Dalin fell in love with sailing at age 6 during a holiday sailing course in Brittany. A graduate in naval architecture from the University of Southampton, he spent seven seasons honing his racing skills in the Figaro class before moving up to the elite IMOCA circuit in 2019. Beyond his 2021 Vendee Globe second-place finish, he also claimed runner-up in the 2022 Route du Rhum, the iconic transatlantic race that runs from France to the Caribbean.
The Vendee Globe, widely considered one of the most grueling challenges in all of competitive sport, is held every four years. It requires sailors to complete a solo, unassisted voyage around the globe, passing South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin, and South America’s Cape Horn across a distance of roughly 24,000 nautical miles, or 44,500 kilometers. Dalin’s record-setting 2024-25 win, achieved while privately fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis, has cemented his reputation as one of the most courageous and talented skippers in the history of the race.
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UK defense secretary quits, says government isn’t willing to spend enough on military
LONDON – In a sudden shake-up to Keir Starmer’s newly formed Labour government, UK Defense Secretary John Healey stepped down on Thursday, citing the administration’s failure to allocate sufficient military funding to counter mounting global security risks.
In his formal resignation letter addressed to Prime Minister Starmer, Healey criticized the government’s upcoming Defense Investment Plan, stating that the proposal falls “well short of what is required at this dangerous time” for the United Kingdom and its defense commitments around the world.
Discussions over the new defense strategy have been mired in internal conflict for weeks. Publication of the plan has already been pushed back multiple times, with multiple government sources confirming deep rifts between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury over how much public funding should be directed to military upgrades and operations.
Prime Minister Starmer has already laid out a long-term timeline for increasing UK defense spending: a target of 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027, and a rise to 3% of GDP by 2034. But senior defense figures and military leaders have repeatedly pushed back on this schedule, arguing that the gradual increase is too slow to address the rapidly shifting global threat landscape.
Healey echoed this criticism in his letter, writing: “You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.” He pointed to a sharp rise in global security demands, specifically naming ongoing tensions from the conflict in Ukraine, persistent aggressive posture from Russia, and escalating instability tied to the ongoing conflict in Iran as evidence of the growing strain on UK military capacity.
With no path to resolve the funding dispute, Healey concluded, “I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary.”
Healey has only held the post of defense chief since the Labour Party won general elections in July 2024, but in his short tenure he earned a reputation as a focused, capable minister widely respected across party lines. He made major contributions to Western security efforts in recent months: he played a central role in expanding international backing for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and led efforts to build a multinational security coalition to guarantee long-term stability for the country if a ceasefire is negotiated. He also spearheaded work to develop an international maritime security task force designed to protect commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepine, amid ongoing instability in the Middle East.
Healey’s departure marks the latest significant challenge for Starmer, who already faces growing internal pressure from within his own party to step down, adding further political instability to a new government still finding its footing just months after taking office.
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World ski president Eliasch loses election by one vote and alleges IOC influence
BELGRADE, Serbia — In a stunning upset that has sent ripples through global winter sports, longtime International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) president Johan Eliasch has been removed from his post by a razor-thin one-vote margin, capping a chaotic campaign that pitted the incumbent against a coalition of traditional skiing powerhouses and elite athletes.
The Thursday election ended with Alexander Ospelt, a little-known lawyer from the Alpine principality of Liechtenstein, securing a 65-64 victory over Eliasch, a Swedish-British billionaire and owner of global sports equipment brand Head. Ospelt will now take the helm of FIS for a four-year term, after the vote went his way at the governing body’s general congress held in the Serbian capital.
For Eliasch, the defeat comes with an additional high-profile consequence: he immediately loses his seat in the International Olympic Committee (IOC), one of the most exclusive and influential bodies in global sport. The 64-year-old, who served as FIS president for five years, had previously run for IOC presidency 15 months ago, a race ultimately won by Kirsty Coventry.
In his immediate concession address, Eliasch made a bombshell allegation against the IOC, claiming the Olympic governing body had interfered to sway the election result. “The IOC tried to influence the outcome of today’s vote. Against this we must stay firm,” he told delegates, before urging FIS to defend its institutional independence and extending congratulations to his opponent.
The writing was on the wall for Eliasch from the opening moments of the FIS congress, as delegates moved quickly to signal their dissatisfaction with his leadership. By an 88% majority, members voted to rearrange the official agenda and advance the presidential election to the first order of business, an unusual move that reflected widespread discontent. Later, another 60% vote approved a shift from electronic voting to paper ballots, a change widely interpreted as a vote of no confidence in Eliasch’s outgoing administration over transparency concerns.
Unlike international soccer governing body FIFA’s one-member-one-vote system, FIS uses a weighted voting framework that grants larger, more established skiing nations two or three votes apiece. That structure worked against Eliasch, who had spent half a decade locked in bitter public disputes with the sport’s traditional heartland nations in Europe and North America over his autocratic management style and controversial decisions around spending FIS’s cash reserves.
Even his home national federations of Sweden and Great Britain refused to back his re-election bid. To comply with FIS nomination rules, Eliasch ultimately secured a nomination and citizenship from Georgia to appear on the ballot. His campaign was opposed by a coalition of leading winter sports nations that secured the backing of many top professional skiers, including American skiing legend Mikaela Shiffrin, one of the most decorated athletes in the sport’s history.
Under FIS bylaws, Ospelt will not officially take office until one full day after the election, allowing Eliasch to oversee the remaining congress business on his final day in the role. Framing the outcome as a positive result either way in pre-election comments, Eliasch struck a measured tone in his closing remarks. “It’s been a great privilege to serve you,” he said. “Either way I am very happy,” adding that a loss would let him “get my life back.”
Ospelt, who has served as a member of the FIS Council under Eliasch’s leadership, struck a unifying tone in his first remarks as president-elect. “I will start my new job with great joy and humility,” he said. “I will be the president for all of you. Let’s be united.”
Unlike his predecessor, Ospelt will not automatically gain IOC membership immediately after taking office. However, as the head of FIS — the governing body that oversees roughly half of all medal events at every Winter Olympic Games — he is widely expected to receive an invitation to join the IOC in due course.
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Ryanair investigated over charging parents to sit with children
The UK’s top competition regulator has opened a formal probe into budget airline giant Ryanair over its policy of charging parents additional fees to sit alongside their children during flights, triggering a fierce public pushback from the carrier that has labeled the inquiry politically motivated and groundless.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the body responsible for enforcing UK consumer and competition rules, confirmed this month that it is examining whether Ryanair’s standard seat charges—an average of £8 per passenger per one-way trip—violate existing consumer protection legislation. Under Ryanair’s current terms of service, adult passengers traveling with children between the ages of 2 and 11 are required to reserve a paid “mandatory family seat” to sit with their minor travel companions, aligning with the airline’s own policy that requires guardians to be seated next to young children for the duration of a flight.
A core focus of the CMA’s inquiry is whether Ryanair is wrongfully charging passengers to meet pre-existing safety and accessibility obligations laid out in global and UK aviation regulations. Regulators also noted that Ryanair stands out among major airlines operating out of UK airports as the only carrier that imposes these mandatory charges for family seating. Most other major airlines either automatically assign adjacent seats to families at no extra cost during the booking process or allow guardians to select seats next to children without charging additional fees.
Ryanair has rejected all of the CMA’s preliminary implications, calling the investigation “bogus” and insisting that its family seating policy adheres fully to all applicable UK and aviation laws. The airline pushed back on the regulator’s description of its pricing structure, clarifying that adults only pay for one reserved seat when traveling with children, while up to four additional children on the same booking can reserve adjacent seats at no cost.
Beyond defending its policy, Ryanair attacked the inquiry as a political distraction from the current Starmer government’s failure to eliminate Air Passenger Duty (APD), a tax that the airline argues drives up ticket prices for all travelers and suppresses growth across the UK’s aviation, tourism and broader national economy. The carrier said it is confident it will disprove the CMA’s claims over the course of the investigation.
The CMA is also probing two additional potential consumer protection issues: whether the mandatory family seat fee is “drip-priced” — meaning it is only revealed to customers partway through the booking process, rather than disclosed upfront as part of the total advertised price. CMA Director of Consumer Protection Hayley Fletcher explained that these hidden extra charges can quickly erode the affordability of family summer holidays, a key concern as households across the UK continue to grapple with persistent cost of living pressures.
“For the past year, we’ve told businesses to ensure their customers are shown the total price upfront – those who don’t face the very real possibility of action from the CMA,” Fletcher said, adding that the investigation is in its early stages and no final conclusion on whether Ryanair broke the law has been reached. If the CMA finds Ryanair violated consumer protection law, the regulator’s new enforcement powers allow it to levy fines of up to 10% of the airline’s global annual turnover.
Leading UK consumer rights organization Which? has welcomed the CMA’s probe, noting that it has repeatedly raised alarms about Ryanair’s seating policies that separate families unless extra fees are paid, even for children as young as three years old. Rory Boland, Which? Travel Editor, called on Ryanair to proactively change its policy before the investigation concludes. “Ryanair doesn’t have to wait for the outcome of the CMA’s investigation, it could stop charging these unreasonable fees today and we would encourage them to do that,” Boland said.
The investigation is part of a wider CMA initiative to reduce financial burdens on UK households by cracking down on unfair consumer pricing practices amid ongoing economic pressure.