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  • Rescuers search rubble of Kyiv flats after massive Russian strikes kill two

    Rescuers search rubble of Kyiv flats after massive Russian strikes kill two

    Three straight days of deadly Russian aerial assaults have rocked Ukraine, leaving at least two people dead and 40 others injured after a massive overnight barrage of missiles and drones targeted multiple cities across the country, including the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian officials confirmed the attacks marked a sharp escalation of hostilities that began immediately after a three-day US-brokered ceasefire expired late Monday. The truce, which saw only minor violations along the frontline and no large-scale air attacks, gave way to renewed violence on Tuesday, when nine Ukrainians were killed. An additional six people lost their lives in strikes across the nation on Wednesday, three of them in the western city of Rivne.

    In Kyiv, one of the hardest-hit targets in the latest overnight wave of attacks, a nine-story residential apartment building suffered partial collapse after being directly hit. Emergency rescue teams launched a search operation at dawn Thursday to pull any remaining survivors trapped under the rubble of the destroyed structure. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klychko, who toured the damaged site early Thursday, confirmed that 18 apartments were completely destroyed in the strike, and critical civilian infrastructure was also damaged, disrupting the capital’s municipal water supply for local residents. As of Thursday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that dozens of people had already been pulled from the rubble, though emergency workers still hold fears that more victims remain trapped beneath the debris.

    Beyond the partially collapsed apartment block, the overnight attack left damage to multiple other civilian sites, including additional residential buildings, a local school, and a veterinary clinic, Zelensky added. In a public statement following the strikes, Zelensky pushed back against any suggestions that Russia is seeking to de-escalate the conflict, saying the large-scale assault was “definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end.” He called on Ukraine’s international allies to speak out firmly against the renewed attacks, rather than remaining silent.

    Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the assault as an “especially difficult night for Kyiv,” and noted that Russian drones and missiles targeted regions far beyond the capital. Strikes were also reported in Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa, spread across central, eastern, and southern Ukraine. In a social media post, Svyrydenko made an urgent appeal for international support: “Ukraine needs help in strengthening its air defense. This is the only way to save our people and our cities.”

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha condemned the attack as “barbaric” and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of prioritizing aggression and terror over diplomatic efforts to end the war. He pointed out that the large-scale assault coincided with a high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and urged the two world leaders to use their diplomatic leverage to force Moscow to end its invasion. “I am certain that the leaders of the United States and China have enough leverage over Moscow to tell Putin to finally end the war,” Sybiha said.

    The latest round of military escalation comes as Ukrainian officials are also grappling with a domestic political corruption scandal. In a separate development in Kyiv on Thursday, a Ukrainian court ordered 60 days of pretrial detention for Andriy Yermak, formerly one of Zelensky’s closest top aides. Yermak is currently a suspect in a money laundering investigation tied to a £7.5 million luxury construction project built outside Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s national anti-corruption agencies. The court ruled that Yermak could be released on bail of £2.35 million ($3.2 million) if he wears an electronic monitoring tag, but Yermak says he does not have the funds to cover the bail amount and will seek financial support from friends and acquaintances. Yermak has forcefully denied all the allegations against him, calling them baseless. He says he will appeal the ruling, and has no plans to leave Ukraine, stating publicly: “I’m staying in Ukraine. I have nothing to hide.”

  • UK leadership contenders expected to launch bids to unseat prime minister after days of maneuvering

    UK leadership contenders expected to launch bids to unseat prime minister after days of maneuvering

    LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing an imminent open challenge to his leadership of the ruling Labour Party, as two high-profile political figures have cleared the path for a leadership contest set to unfold Thursday.

    Wes Streeting, the current UK Health Secretary, has secured the required number of endorsements from Labour Members of Parliament to formally launch a challenge against Starmer for both party leadership and the office of prime minister, according to close allies of the Health Secretary. Streeting is expected to make his official challenge announcement later Thursday.

    The second major development came from former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who confirmed Thursday she has resolved outstanding tax disputes with UK tax authorities that forced her resignation from the Cabinet in September 2024. Speaking to the Guardian, Rayner said Starmer needs to “reflect on” his hold on the premiership, adding that she stands ready to take part in any leadership contest triggered by Streeting’s challenge. A prominent figure aligned with Labour’s left wing, Rayner has long pushed for more aggressive progressive policies including a higher minimum wage and increased taxation on the wealthiest Britons.

    Calls for Starmer’s resignation have mounted rapidly over the past week after the Labour Party recorded catastrophic losses in nationwide local and regional elections. The poor election outcome amplified widespread voter frustration over what many see as the glacial pace of policy change under Starmer’s 10-month-old government.

    Despite the growing mutiny within his own party, Starmer has remained defiant, pledging publicly to hold onto his position. He has warned that opening a leadership contest at this juncture would throw the British government into crippling chaos, at a moment when the administration should be prioritizing urgent national and global issues: the ongoing UK cost of living crisis and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

    Under formal Labour Party rules, any candidate seeking to challenge the incumbent party leader must secure the public support of at least 81 of the party’s 403 sitting House of Commons MPs. In recent days, more than that threshold of Labour lawmakers have publicly called for Starmer to step down, clearing the signature hurdle for any challenger.

    Both Streeting and Starmer hail from the moderate faction of the centre-left Labour Party, a dynamic that could split establishment party support in a contest. Beyond Streeting and Rayner, other potential candidates are already being tipped to enter the race. Andy Burnham, the popular and widely respected Mayor of Greater Manchester, has emerged as a frequent name in leadership speculation, though he currently sits outside Parliament — a requirement for any Labour leader. Sources close to Burnham indicate that a sitting Labour MP could step down to trigger a by-election that would allow Burnham to win a parliamentary seat ahead of any leadership vote. Burnham fueled speculation this week when he canceled his regular weekly appearance on BBC local radio, citing a need to “prioritize discussions arising from last week’s elections.”

  • Paris’ Invalides is more than Napoleon’s tomb. For 350 years, it has been a home for war wounded

    Paris’ Invalides is more than Napoleon’s tomb. For 350 years, it has been a home for war wounded

    Towering over the Paris skyline, the gilded dome of Les Invalides is recognized worldwide as the final resting place of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, drawing more than 1.4 million tourists to its historic museums and mausoleum every year. But few visitors understand that beneath the landmark’s iconic facade, a quiet, centuries-old core mission endures: for more than 350 years, this complex has served as a permanent home and specialized hospital for wounded veterans and civilian victims of war and terror attacks.

    First commissioned in the 17th century by King Louis XIV, the National Institution of Invalides welcomed its first group of retired and injured soldiers in 1670, marking the first time a European state took formal, long-term responsibility for caring for its war-wounded — a duty previously left entirely to religious orders. Today, the institution houses 64 residents, ranging from young combat veterans injured in overseas deployments to 90-plus-year-old Holocaust survivors who count themselves among the last living witnesses of Nazi atrocities.

    As the original facilities have aged, the French government has launched a major 100 million euro ($108 million) renovation project, with public funding covering core infrastructure and private donors invited to sponsor upgrades to individual residential rooms. This month, the institution granted exclusive access to Associated Press reporters, opening up the residential wings that sit just steps from Napoleon’s grand central sarcophagus — a rare look at the living community that shares space with one of Paris’ top tourist landmarks.

    “Les Invalides is a unique place — a magical, incredible and grand site,” explained General Christophe de Saint Chamas, the military officer who serves as the institution’s governor. He noted that from its inception, the project carried dual meaning: it demonstrated Louis XIV’s commitment to his soldiers, and it stood as one of the first formal acts of state-sponsored social care in modern history. “Before that, religious communities were taking in the wounded by obligation. Here, the state said: we’re taking care of them, over the long term, until their death,” de Saint Chamas said.

    Across its 350-year history, Les Invalides has tracked every turning point in French history: it was stormed by revolutionaries seeking weapons during the 1789 French Revolution, expanded to house thousands of veterans under Napoleon’s rule, and opened its doors to civilian war victims for the first time in the 20th century. Today, two of its most prominent residents are 101-year-old Ginette Kolinka and 98-year-old Esther Senot, both Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp survivors who have dedicated decades to educating young people about the Holocaust to ensure its atrocities are never forgotten.

    Senot, born to Polish Jewish parents in Paris, was just 15 when she was arrested by French police and deported to Auschwitz in 1943. Of the 1,000 people packed into her cattle car transport, only she and one other person survived. She spent 17 months in Nazi camps, returning to France after liberation weighing just 70 pounds, having lost 17 family members including her parents and six siblings. For decades after the war, she faced widespread indifference to the stories of deportees — it was only during a 1985 visit to Auschwitz that she began speaking publicly, after challenging a tour guide’s inaccurate account that erased the majority-Jewish identity of most camp victims.

    “When people asked me to share my story, I could not say no,” Senot recalled, showing the identification number the Nazis tattooed on her left arm. She moved to Les Invalides after her husband’s death and as her own medical needs grew, a choice shaped by her connection to the institution: her brother, a soldier in the French 2nd Armored Division that helped liberate France from Nazi occupation, lived at Les Invalides for 10 years in the 2000s. “I used to come visit him regularly, and I already knew the community here. When I found myself alone in old age, coming here felt natural,” she said.

    For younger wounded veterans, Les Invalides offers more than just medical care — it provides a ready-made community bound by shared experience of combat and injury. Master Corporal Mikaele Iva, who was left disabled after a parachute accident during a deployment to Gabon in 2021, has lived at the institution since his injury. He uses a wheelchair, but still competes in adaptive sports including fencing, archery and golf through the facility’s sports club, and represents Les Invalides at national ceremonies.

    “Over time, we become a second family here,” Iva explained. Residents gather to chat in the common coffee room, attend football matches and concerts together, and support one another through the challenges of living with disability. “We share both joyful moments and hard days. That’s the same as military life: we get back on our feet after injury, and we never leave each other behind, no matter what,” he said. Iva added that he finds deep meaning in the care France provides through Les Invalides: his former comrade, whom he pulled to safety after a severe injury during a deployment to Afghanistan, also lives at the institution, a tangible reminder of the nation’s promise to stand by those who serve.

    Caregivers share that same sense of national purpose. “We devote ourselves to them body and soul,” said Mustapha Nachet, a nurse coordinator who has worked at the residential center since 2014. “This is the nation’s way of giving back for everything they have given for our country.” Nachet noted that care at Les Invalides is deeply personalized, as the needs of a 30-year-old wounded combat veteran are vastly different from those of a 99-year-old civilian Holocaust survivor.

    Beyond residential care, Les Invalides operates a world-leading specialized hospital for people with severe war-related disabilities, with cutting-edge expertise in prosthetics and rehabilitation. Its medical teams conduct ongoing research to improve mobility for amputees and wheelchair users, and they have treated dozens of survivors of the 2015 terror attacks across Paris, including victims of the Bataclan concert hall massacre.

    General Sylvain Ausset, the institution’s medical director, notes that across centuries, the facility has documented how the nature of war injury has evolved with each new conflict. “Each conflict leaves its own mark, and none ever erases a previous one,” he explained. “In World War I, we saw severe facial injuries on a mass scale that people rarely survived before. In World War II, more soldiers with spinal cord injuries that caused paraplegia and quadriplegia began to survive. In more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, we saw multiple amputations on a scale never seen before. Today, the defining injury we treat is psychological trauma.”

    For de Saint Chamas, the institution’s centuries-long mission remains as vital today as it was when Louis XIV broke ground in the 1600s. It is a tangible promise to active-duty troops: “It allows active-duty troops to deploy knowing that if something happens to them, France will be there.”

  • A Vienna cafe offers a welcome for Israel supporters as tensions brew at the Eurovision Song Contest

    A Vienna cafe offers a welcome for Israel supporters as tensions brew at the Eurovision Song Contest

    The iconic coffeehouses of Vienna, a city long celebrated as a global hub of music, have opened their doors to Eurovision Song Contest fans this year — but the festive atmosphere has been sharply overshadowed by escalating geopolitical tensions tied to Israel’s inclusion in the glitzy global pop competition.

    When city officials first unveiled their roster of “Eurofan Cafes,” themed venues serving cuisine and playing music from each competing nation, Israel was notably absent from the lineup. Stepping into the gap, MQ Kantine — a contemporary cafe located in Vienna’s popular arts and museums district — stepped forward to host Israeli-themed programming. Today, the space features falafel, lox bagels and kosher wine on its menu, strings of small Israeli flags strung across its ceiling, and a uniformed police officer posted permanently outside its entrance.

    Security measures across Vienna have been ramped up significantly for this year’s contest, turning the event’s unifying “United by Music” slogan into something of a hollow promise for many. Five countries have already announced boycotts of the 2026 Eurovision in response to the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to compete, while pro-Palestinian organizers have planned alternative protest concerts across the continent, alongside a major anti-Israel march scheduled ahead of Saturday’s grand final. At MQ Kantine, local volunteers rotate shifts to watch for potential unrest, but cafe representative Daniel Kapp — a PR consultant and pro-Israel campaigner — says community response has so far been overwhelmingly supportive.

    Sitting on the cafe’s sun-dappled terrace as guests sipped coffee and drank beer, Kapp noted that while the visible police presence confirms the situation is far from business as usual, the public support for the venue reflects a shifting cultural context in Austria. “My feeling is that Austria to a certain degree has learned from its history,” he said, referencing the state-sponsored antisemitism that killed hundreds of thousands of Austrian and European Jews under Nazi rule during World War II. “Which is why the support for Israel is a lot more normal than it is in other countries.”

    Israel has competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for more than 50 years, claiming the grand prize four times. But its participation has sparked global controversy ever since it launched its full-scale military offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 cross-border attack led by Hamas that killed roughly 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry — which operates under Hamas rule but whose casualty data is widely regarded as reliable by the international community — more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive to date. The Israeli government has repeatedly defended its military campaign as a necessary response to the October 7 attacks, though multiple independent experts, including a panel commissioned by a United Nations human rights body, have concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide. Israel, a country home to hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, has vehemently denied these allegations. Ongoing cross-border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and recent Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets have only amplified global tensions surrounding Israel’s participation.

    Protests calling for Israel’s expulsion from the contest marred last year’s event in Liverpool, UK, and this year’s preliminary rounds hosted in Malmö, Sweden, and tensions have carried over to Vienna’s host city activities. This year’s contest has been split sharply along political lines: while the main arena at Wiener Stadthalle and the official Eurovision Village fan zone maintain an upbeat, celebratory vibe, entry requires passing through a heavy security cordon of armed officers, bag scanners and personal searches, with a total ban on all bags inside the arena. Security concerns have been heightened in Vienna after a 21-year-old Austrian man pled guilty this year to plotting a mass attack on a 2024 Taylor Swift concert, after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group.

    Israeli contestant Noam Bettan has revealed he practiced his performance while recordings of crowd booms played in the background, following the same preparation used by 2023 Israeli competitor Yuval Raphael. When Bettan took the stage for Tuesday’s first semifinal, scattered boos rang out through the arena between cheers from supporters, but he still secured a top 10 spot to advance to Saturday’s grand final, determined by a combined vote of national juries and global viewers. Contest organizers confirmed four audience members were removed from the 10,000-person semifinal crowd for disruptive political behavior.

    Austrian Eurovision fan Ivo Herzl, who attended the semifinal, described the in-arena energy as “incredibly positive.” He has shown his support for Israel by designing and selling “Mazel Lov” T-shirts, a playful pun on the Hebrew-Yiddish celebratory phrase “mazel tov.” “Vienna has always been a city of tolerance,” Herzl said. “It’s the city of music and we’ll always do everything possible for everyone to enjoy a musical event.”

    Many Israeli fans said they have been reassured by the heavy security and widespread public support in Vienna. Oz Yona, who is attending his first Eurovision this year, said he has encountered “no hate” during his trip, and credited Austria for taking the threat of antisemitism seriously. Yona came to cheer on Bettan alongside friends, but he downplayed his chances of winning — for musical, not political, reasons. “I don’t think he will win,” Yona said. “Finland is better this year. Greece is better this year. We have a good song, but not a winning song.”

    Even among long-time Eurovision fans, the political tensions have fractured a community long known for its radical inclusivity and cross-border friendship. Birgitta Peterson and Kristina Nilsson, two Swedish fans who call themselves The Swedish Ladies and attend the contest every year to meet their network of “Eurovision family” from across the continent, plan to wave Israeli flags in the stands during Saturday’s final, breaking with the position of their home country’s contestant Felicia, who has publicly stated she believes Israel should be excluded from the competition. “The wounds are very deep at the moment,” Nilsson said. “This event should really be about ‘united by music’ and happiness. That’s what Eurovision is all about.”

  • Russia hits Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles, injuring at least 4

    Russia hits Kyiv with drones and ballistic missiles, injuring at least 4

    KYIV, Ukraine — A large-scale combined assault featuring drones and ballistic missiles targeting Ukraine’s capital city unfolded in the early hours of Thursday, marking the second attack on Kyiv within a single day and leaving multiple people injured and massive residential infrastructure destroyed, local Ukrainian officials confirmed.\n\nTymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s Military Administration, released preliminary details confirming that damage from the strikes was documented across six of the capital’s administrative districts. The assault damaged both private residential properties and key civilian infrastructure, he said, confirming that Russian forces used a mix of ballistic missiles and Iranian-designed Shahed drones in the coordinated attack.\n\nOne of the most severe incidents took place in Kyiv’s Darnytsia district, where a multi-story apartment building suffered a partial collapse that split the entire structure into two sections. Multiple residents were trapped under fallen concrete and debris following the blast. Ukraine’s national Emergency Service confirmed that first responders had pulled at least 10 survivors from the rubble by mid-morning. On-site footage and reporting showed rescue crews continuing to comb through the smoldering wreckage hours after the strike, searching for any additional trapped survivors.\n\nIn the capital’s Dnieper district, Tkachenko added, a rogue drone struck the roof of a five-story residential building, and a second residential structure in the adjacent Dniprovskyi district also sustained significant damage. Loud explosion sounds echoed across all neighborhoods of Kyiv from the early onset of the assault just after midnight.\n\nThe overnight attack came just hours after an unusually large, rare daytime strike on Kyiv that killed at least six civilians, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy noted that the daytime assault involved more than 800 drones deployed by Russian forces, and that the hours-long attack was deliberately intended to inflict maximum civilian harm. “The goal of this terror is to create as much pain and grief as possible for our people,” Zelenskyy stated in a post-strike address.

  • Supporters of bill to aid Ukraine and sanction Russia hit number to force House vote

    Supporters of bill to aid Ukraine and sanction Russia hit number to force House vote

    A cross-partisan coalition of Ukraine supporters in the U.S. House of Representatives crossed a critical procedural milestone on Wednesday, securing the required number of signatures to force a floor vote on a package of new Ukraine aid and Russian sanctions, bypassing top Republican leadership in the chamber. The push for a vote, led by New York Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks, will bring legislation to the House floor in the coming weeks that codifies U.S. support for Kyiv. It proposes allocating more than $1 billion in direct security assistance to Ukraine, alongside an additional $8 billion in loaned funding for the war-torn nation.

    Proponents of the measure have repeatedly pushed the Trump administration to take a harder line against Moscow and ramp up military backing for Kyiv as its war with Russia enters its fourth year. To trigger a discharge vote — the procedural mechanism that allows rank-and-file lawmakers to bypass committee gridlock and leadership opposition — backers needed 218 signatures on a discharge petition. They hit that exact threshold on Wednesday, after California Independent Representative Kevin Kiley signed on as the decisive vote.

    The petition draws broad Democratic support, with 215 House Democrats adding their names, joined by just two House Republicans: Nebraska’s Don Bacon and Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick. In his statement explaining his support for the petition, Kiley emphasized that the legislation would reinforce Ukraine’s negotiating position to reach a lasting, sustainable peace deal. He also added that the bill sends an unambiguous warning to Moscow that Russia’s ongoing backing for Iran’s targeting of U.S. military assets in the Middle East will not go unanswered by Congress.

    Despite the procedural breakthrough, House Speaker Mike Johnson, the chamber’s top Republican leader, has raised public concerns about the timing of the vote. Johnson noted that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Donald Trump have recently signaled that the war could be nearing an end, and argued that Congress should wait to see how diplomatic efforts unfold before holding a vote. “The latest news out of Russia is that it looks like the war is scaling back, scaling down, coming to a conclusion. I think Vladimir Putin said that himself in the last few days, and so this would be a good time for Congress to see how that pans out,” Johnson told reporters this week.

    Trump echoed that optimistic tone on Tuesday, telling reporters ahead of a summit in Beijing that he expects Moscow and Kyiv to finalize a peace deal in the near future. “The end of the war in Ukraine I really think is getting very close,” Trump said. Putin similarly claimed in a speech last weekend that his full-scale invasion of Ukraine could be “coming to an end.”

    Those optimistic claims have been sharply contradicted by new violence on the ground, however. On Wednesday, the same day backers locked in the final petition signature, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Russia launched a massive daytime drone barrage across Ukraine, deploying at least 800 drones in one of the largest single attacks of the entire war. The strike killed at least six civilians and wounded dozens more, including multiple children.

    That ongoing violence led Fitzpatrick, one of the two Republican supporters of the discharge petition, to reject the claim that the war is winding down. The GOP lawmaker stressed that he would only withdraw his backing for the bill if Russia fully withdraws all of its military forces from internationally recognized Ukrainian territory. “There’s people dying as we speak, so no, the war is not winding down,” Fitzpatrick said.

    Meeks, the lead sponsor of the effort, echoed that argument, noting that the vote will finally force every member of Congress to go on the public record with their stance on Ukraine support. “Members of Congress, some tell me that they are supportive of Ukraine. Well, we’re going to finally get a vote on the floor to make that determination,” Meeks said. He added that the House vote will build pressure on the U.S. Senate to act, and send a clear message to Trump that the American public supports standing with U.S. allies rather than aligning with the Kremlin.

    Even if the bill passes the House, its future in the Senate remains far from certain. For months, senators from both parties have debated a range of Russia sanction and Ukraine aid packages, but momentum stalled after Trump launched military strikes against Iran in late February. While most Senate Republicans have voiced nominal support for Ukraine, they have been reluctant to advance any legislation without explicit backing from the Trump administration. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune cast doubt on the chamber’s ability to take up Russia sanctions in the near term, noting that the Senate is already backed up with other pending legislation.

    South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the most prominent GOP advocates for Russia sanctions in the Senate, offered a mixed assessment of the House-passed package this week, saying he supports some provisions but opposes others. Lawmakers from both parties have also expressed growing frustration over the Pentagon’s failure to disburse $400 million in previously approved military aid for Ukraine that Congress allocated last year. During a congressional hearing earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers the department is currently developing a plan to release the long-delayed funds.

    Support for Ukraine has emerged as one of the most persistent points of tension between Congress and the Trump administration, after Trump pledged during his campaign to rapidly end the war within days of taking office. To date, the administration has failed to make meaningful progress toward a negotiated peace deal, and has repeatedly moved to scale back military support for Ukraine and reduce U.S. security commitments across Europe.

  • ‘Ocean Dream’ blue-green diamond sells for more than $17 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

    ‘Ocean Dream’ blue-green diamond sells for more than $17 million at Christie’s auction in Geneva

    In an iconic auction held in Geneva on Wednesday, Christie’s achieved a historic milestone for the global fine jewelry market when one of the world’s most extraordinary gemstones — the 5.5-carat triangular-cut ‘Ocean Dream’ — sold for 13.5 million Swiss francs, equal to $17.3 million. This final price sets a new record for any fancy vivid blue-green diamond ever sold at public auction, far exceeding industry expectations.

    Discovered in Central Africa during the 1990s, the Ocean Dream was the headline lot of Christie’s Geneva luxury jewelry sale, carrying a pre-auction estimated value of just 7 to 10 million Swiss francs, or roughly $9 to $13 million. According to Rahul Kadakia, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, bidding for the rare stone extended over 20 minutes before a final deal was struck, with the winning bid coming from an anonymous private buyer. The extended bidding process signals unusually strong market demand for one-of-a-kind colored gemstones.

    This sale price is more than double the $8.5 million the Ocean Dream fetched when it was last sold at Christie’s in 2014. The gem has also earned international acclaim for its rarity: it was featured as a standout exhibit in the 2003 Smithsonian Splendour of Diamonds Exhibition, where it was highlighted among the world’s most exceptional colored diamonds.

    Industry leaders have praised the outcome as a fitting reflection of the stone’s unmatched status. “A stellar result worthy of the world’s rarest blue-green diamond,” noted Tobias Kormind, managing director of online luxury jeweler 77 Diamonds, in an official comment on the sale.

    The Ocean Dream’s record-breaking sale came just one day after a contrasting outcome at a competing Sotheby’s auction in the same city. On Tuesday, Sotheby’s failed to find a buyer for a 6-carat fancy vivid blue diamond sourced from South Africa’s legendary Cullinan Mine. That stone carried a pre-auction estimate of 7.2 million to 9.6 million Swiss francs ($9.2 million to $12.3 million). Despite the lack of an on-auction sale, Sotheby’s officials confirmed they are currently in ongoing negotiations with multiple interested parties and remain confident the diamond will be sold shortly.

    Both major auction houses agree that the high interest in the Ocean Dream aligns with a broader market trend: collector demand for rare colored diamonds has grown steadily in recent years. This category of gemstones makes up only a tiny fraction of all diamonds mined globally, making naturally colored examples like the Ocean Dream extremely valuable investments for high-net-worth collectors around the world.

  • Arrieta beats Eulalio to win epic wet Giro stage

    Arrieta beats Eulalio to win epic wet Giro stage

    The 2026 Giro d’Italia delivered one of its most dramatic and memorable stages in recent memory on Wednesday, as Spain’s Igor Arrieta outlasted Portugal’s Afonso Eulalio to claim a chaotic stage 5 victory in Potenza, southern Italy, while Eulalio walked away with the race’s coveted overall lead pink jersey. What unfolded over 203 kilometers of rain-soaked, treacherous roads was a story of endurance, misfortune, and last-minute grit that has reshaped the three-week Grand Tour’s early standings.

    Arrieta and Eulalio broke away from the main peloton with 50 kilometers remaining, launching a two-man battle for the stage win that would see both riders suffer identical high-speed crashes in the wet conditions. The pair both lost control of their front wheels on left-hand bends, sliding hard into roadside kerbs as sheets of rain turned the asphalt into a slippery, stream-covered hazard. Both walked away from the wrecks with deep cuts across their bodies, torn racing Lycra, and a narrow path back to contention.

    Arrieta was the first to fall, crashing with just 14 kilometers left to race. He lost more than 30 seconds to Eulalio as he scrambled to swap his damaged bike for a spare from his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team car. But just a few kilometers further on, Eulalio suffered an identical crash, slamming into the kerb and bruising his lower back, shouting in frustration as he also switched to a backup bicycle.

    The chaos did not end there as the pair entered the finishing town of Potenza. Arrieta overshot a right-hand turn, accidentally heading down the wrong route before becoming tangled in course organizers’ boundary tape. With less than one kilometer to go, he nearly crashed for a second time when his rear wheel slipped out on the wet surface. But in a final, surprising push, the exhausted 24-year-old clawed his way back past an equally drained Eulalio to cross the line just two seconds ahead, breaking down in tears with blood running down his arms.

    Speculation has emerged that the final sprint was the result of a prearranged agreement between the two breakaway companions, which would grant Arrieta the stage win and Eulalio the overall lead, given the large gap the pair had built over the main peloton. After crossing the line, Arrieta called the victory the biggest of his young career. “I don’t know what to say. This victory means a lot to me,” he said. “I just thought it was not lost, and I need to try to the end. You never know. I was completely empty in the last kilometres, but I know Afonso was the same – we both deserved the victory.”

    For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the win is a much-needed boost after a devastating crash on the similarly treacherous second stage in Bulgaria just days prior wiped out three of the team’s top riders, including British general classification contender Adam Yates – the twin brother of 2025 Giro champion Simon Yates. The team already claimed a stage win on Tuesday, when Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narvaez won the sprint into Cosenza in stage 4.

    Despite losing the stage, Eulalio’s result was a career milestone. The Bahrain-Victorious rider became just the third Portuguese rider to wear the Giro’s pink jersey, inheriting the top spot from Italy’s Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek. Ciccone described the brutal wet stage as one of the hardest of his career, and was even forced to stop mid-stage to change into dry clothing amid the constant downpour.

    Eulalio holds a lead of nearly three minutes over Arrieta in the general classification, with all pre-race favorites more than six minutes back. Tour de France champion and pre-race favorite Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, riding for Visma-Lease a Bike, finished safely within the main peloton, crossing the line 7 minutes 12 seconds behind the leading breakaway group. Vingegaard sits 15th overall, 6 minutes 22 seconds behind Eulalio, and the Dane is widely expected to claw back this deficit when the Giro enters its high mountain stages in the coming weeks.

    Thursday’s stage 6 will offer a reprieve for the sprinters, with a 141-kilometer relatively flat route finishing in Naples.

  • French prosecutors push to return Sarkozy to prison for 7 years in Libya case

    French prosecutors push to return Sarkozy to prison for 7 years in Libya case

    PARIS – In a sharp escalation of one of the most politically charged judicial cases in modern French history, national prosecutors formally requested Wednesday that appellate judges sentence former President Nicolas Sarkozy to seven years in prison and levy a €300,000 ($330,000) fine over long-running allegations that the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi secretly bankrolled Sarkozy’s victorious 2007 presidential campaign.

    The 71-year-old former head of state already made history in September 2025 when he became the first former French president in modern memory to be imprisoned, after he was handed an initial five-year sentence on criminal conspiracy charges tied to the case. He served just 20 days at Paris’ La Santé Prison before being granted supervised release in November, and both sides have appealed the original verdict: prosecutors are pushing to overturn the acquittals Sarkozy secured in the first trial and secure a harsher custodial term.

    The appeal proceedings are scheduled to run through early June, with a final ruling from the three-judge panel expected on November 30. Legal analysts note the Libya case carries unprecedented symbolic and political weight among the multiple corruption investigations Sarkozy has faced in recent years, as it centers on the extraordinary claim that a foreign dictatorship helped install a French president in office.

    In Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors asked the appellate judges to reverse three key acquittals from the first trial, finding Sarkozy guilty of corruption, illegal campaign financing, and complicity in the concealment of embezzled Libyan public funds. They also proposed a five-year ban on Sarkozy holding any public office if convicted.

    Sarkozy’s lead defense attorney, Christophe Ingrain, pushed back aggressively against the prosecution’s demands after the hearing, telling reporters that the latest requests are identical to arguments financial prosecutors already failed to win over in the first trial. “There is no Libyan money in his campaign, in his estate,” Ingrain said. “Nicolas Sarkozy is innocent, and we will demonstrate it in fifteen days.”

    Sarkozy is not the only figure facing consequences in the case: multiple close allies from his inner circle also stand accused, including his former chief of staff Claude Guéant, former Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, long-time political fixer Alexandre Djouhri, and Éric Woerth, who served as treasurer for Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign. Prosecutors have requested sentences ranging from 10 months to six years and fines between €3,000 and €4 million ($3,500 to $4.68 million) for the co-defendants. Prosecutors have also requested an international arrest warrant for Beshir Saleh, the former chief of Gadhafi’s cabinet, who has lived in exile since the collapse of the Libyan regime in 2011 and has not appeared at any stage of the proceedings.

    Allegations of illicit Libyan financing first emerged publicly back in 2011. French investigating authorities later traced approximately €6 million ($7 million) in transfers from Libya to accounts controlled by Ziad Takieddine, an alleged middleman in the deal who died last September just days before the first trial verdict was issued.

    The case rests on two previously undisclosed meetings held in late 2005 between Guéant, Hortefeux, and Abdallah Senoussi, Gadhafi’s brother-in-law and longtime intelligence chief. Senoussi had already been sentenced in absentia to life in prison by a French court in 1999 for organizing the 1989 bombing of UTA Flight 772 over Niger, an attack that killed 170 people including 54 French citizens. Prosecutors allege that Sarkozy’s campaign team offered to revisit Senoussi’s French conviction in exchange for the secret campaign donations.

    Sarkozy has repeatedly and categorically rejected the prosecution’s narrative. During his April appearance before the appellate court, he questioned the logic of the claims, telling judges: “Why would I have chosen Mr. Gadhafi, whom I had never met before, to set up a suspicious financing arrangement with him during a 30-minute meeting? It makes no sense.” He added: “I owe the truth to the French people. I’m innocent,” reiterating that no Libyan funds ever reached his 2007 campaign.

    Notably, prosecutors have taken a harder line against Sarkozy on appeal than they did in the first proceedings, this week labeling him the “instigator” of the alleged corrupt deal. In the first trial, judges only found Sarkozy guilty of allowing his aides to approach the Libyan regime on his behalf, and acquitted him of corruption on a technicality: they ruled that as a presidential candidate, he did not hold the “public authority” status required to meet the definition of corruption under French law.

    Sarkozy already has two finalized convictions in separate corruption-related cases. In November, France’s highest court upheld his conviction over the illegal financing of his failed 2012 re-election bid, the so-called Bygmalion affair, which carried a one-year sentence – six months of which is custodial and six months suspended. Last week, a French judge ruled that Sarkozy could serve the six-month custodial term via conditional release rather than with an electronic ankle monitoring tag, citing his advanced age, though that ruling has not yet been finalized. He was also convicted in a separate case of illegal wiretapping of a sitting judge.

    The three-judge panel hearing the appeal is not required to follow the prosecution’s sentencing recommendations. Defense attorneys are set to deliver their closing arguments in two weeks.

  • What to know about the corruption probe involving Zelenskyy’s ex-chief of staff

    What to know about the corruption probe involving Zelenskyy’s ex-chief of staff

    KYIV, Ukraine – Two of Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption oversight bodies have named Andrii Yermak, former chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and once one of the most powerful figures in the country’s wartime leadership, as an official suspect in a high-stake graft investigation that has already shaken the Zelenskyy administration to its core.

    The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Yermak is formally suspected of participating in an alleged $10.5 million (460 million hryvnia) money-laundering conspiracy, while explicitly clearing President Zelenskyy of any connection to the case. No formal charges have been filed against Yermak, who stepped down from his post in November 2025 amid a wave of public outcry that marks the most significant challenge to Zelenskyy’s government since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Prior to his resignation, Yermak served as Ukraine’s lead negotiator in diplomatic talks with the United States.

    Yermak has long been one of Ukraine’s most divisive political figures. His professional relationship with Zelenskyy stretches back more than 15 years, when he was a practicing lawyer expanding into television production, and Zelenskyy was a household name as a comedian and actor. He joined Zelenskyy’s first presidential team as a foreign affairs lead before being promoted to chief of staff in February 2020. In that role, he became the country’s de facto second-most powerful public official, acting as the primary gatekeeper for access to the president and widely credited with handpicking most top government appointments, including prime ministers and cabinet ministers. Zelenskyy placed immense trust in Yermak, bringing him along on every international trip following the 2022 Russian invasion. When the corruption scandal first emerged in late 2025, Zelenskyy initially resisted widespread public pressure to remove Yermak from his post. During his tenure, Yermak also oversaw high-stakes diplomacy with Western partners and drafted potential ceasefire frameworks with Russia.

    The allegations against Yermak center on a luxury construction project located outside Kyiv. Anti-corruption investigators claim the project was used as a front to launder funds through a sprawling network of shell companies, with Yermak and a group of associates allegedly planning to build four private luxury mansions and accompanying high-end amenities. Yermak’s legal team has dismissed the suspicion notice as entirely baseless and denied any involvement in the scheme. During the first court hearing held on Tuesday, Yermak reiterated his innocence, telling the court he only owns one apartment and one passenger vehicle. The judicial proceedings are set to continue through this week.

    The case is part of a much broader corruption investigation that was first made public last year, a sprawling $100 million kickback scheme that has already ensnared multiple senior officials and close associates of Zelenskyy. The public revelation of the scheme last November directly forced Yermak’s exit from the presidential administration. Investigators have laid out claims that high-ranking officials pressured private construction contractors to pay kickbacks of up to 15% to secure public contracts with Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned national nuclear energy operator. The probe has included more than 1,000 hours of wiretapped conversations, with targets using coded code names to discuss the scheme. After the details of the scheme became public, Ukraine’s parliament approved President Zelenskyy’s request to dismiss both the country’s energy and justice ministers. The presidential administration also imposed sanctions on several close associates linked to the scheme, including Tymur Mindich, a business partner in the media production company that Zelenskyy co-owned before entering politics. Mindich has reportedly fled Ukraine to avoid prosecution. Prosecutors have not yet confirmed whether any of the funds Yermak is accused of laundering originated from the Energoatom kickback scheme.

    While Zelenskyy is not a suspect in the case, the formal implication of his former closest advisor and right-hand man has cast a growing shadow over the Ukrainian president’s credibility. Endemic systemic corruption remains one of the primary hurdles blocking Ukraine’s path to European Union membership, a top policy priority for Zelenskyy alongside maintaining critical Western military and financial support for the war against Russian invasion. The probe has also drawn in sitting senior officials involved in ongoing peace negotiations mediated by the United States. Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and a key figure in U.S.-led diplomatic efforts, has already been questioned as part of the investigation.

    Zelenskyy’s presidential term officially expired in May 2024, but he has continued to lead the country without holding new national elections, arguing that voting is impossible while Russian forces occupy roughly one-fifth of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Political critics and anti-corruption activists alike note that cleaning up graft is critical to maintaining trust with Western allies, whose ongoing support is indispensable to Ukraine’s war effort and any future negotiated end to the conflict.