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  • Why did Modi urge Putin to end Ukraine war – and will he listen?

    Why did Modi urge Putin to end Ukraine war – and will he listen?

    On a recent Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a long-standing close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, issued a renewed public call for Moscow to bring its full-scale military campaign against Ukraine to a close. “Every day spent in war pushes humanity back, and every step taken towards peace fills humanity with new hope and enthusiasm,” Modi stated, doubling down on a message he has delivered repeatedly since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. For India, a major economy that relies heavily on discounted Russian crude oil to meet its growing energy needs, this public appeal aligns with a long-held diplomatic position — not a sudden shift. This was not Modi’s first public urging of Putin: during a 2022 regional summit, less than a year into the conflict, he publicly told the Russian leader that “now is not the time for war.”

    Contrary to some interpretations, neither this latest statement nor previous remarks from Modi constitute a direct rebuke of Putin or Russia’s broader strategic goals. Western powers have long pressured New Delhi to take a clear, condemnatory stance on the war, but India has maintained a deliberate policy of neutrality, consistently calling for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the conflict rather than aligning with either bloc. This neutral stance has frustrated many Western capitals, but geopolitical and economic realities have forced Western leaders to continue engaging with India: as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies with a population of over 1.4 billion, India is simply too strategically and economically important to isolate.

    In fact, Modi’s latest appeal is fully consistent with India’s core policy of strategic autonomy, which has allowed the country to maintain ties with competing global powers. For decades, India has balanced deep, long-standing partnership with Russia with growing strategic and economic ties to the United States, Europe, and other Indo-Pacific powers. India is a founding member of the BRICS bloc alongside Russia and China, and a participating state in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, two forums where Russia holds significant influence. At the same time, New Delhi is also a core member of the Quad, a strategic security grouping that includes the U.S., Japan, and Australia — a partnership that has drawn criticism from the Kremlin.

    Despite these competing alignments, Moscow and New Delhi have consistently worked through their differences. Russia remains one of India’s largest defense suppliers, accounting for roughly 40% of India’s total defense imports, and has served as a stable provider of energy to meet India’s fast-growing demand. Analysts agree that Modi’s public statement is not expected to create a lasting rift in bilateral ties, and the message was unlikely to have come as a surprise to Putin or his diplomatic team. Critics both in the West and within India, however, argue that Modi should have issued a far more direct criticism of Russia’s military campaign.

    From Moscow’s perspective, this public call for peace is far from unprecedented. Just five weeks before Modi’s appeal, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly suggested Putin freeze the conflict and return to negotiations. Putin did not take that step, and there is no indication that public appeals from allied leaders have shifted his core strategic calculations.

    In response to Modi’s call for an end to hostilities, Putin offered only a polite, vague, and non-committal reply: “Thank you very much, prime minister. We are moving forward along this path.” The ambiguity of the response leaves critical questions unanswered: how fast will progress be, and what “path” is Russia actually pursuing? All available evidence suggests that Russia’s leadership remains committed to achieving military victory on the battlefield in Ukraine, framing their current military campaign as “moving toward peace” on terms dictated by Russian military success.

    As of now, this means active fighting continues, more than four and a half years after the full-scale invasion began. Despite massive Russian military losses and Ukraine’s growing ability to strike targets inside Russian territory — including recent long-range drone attacks on Russian oil refineries that have sparked widespread fuel shortages and long queues at petrol stations across the country — the Kremlin has yet to achieve its core military goals. In recent weeks, Russia has ramped up its own strikes against Ukrainian military industrial facilities and critical infrastructure. Russian business daily Kommersant reported recently that the Kremlin is convinced that time is on Moscow’s side in the military confrontation, working against Kyiv. As long as Putin holds that belief, he is unlikely to pause his “special military operation” or enter into meaningful peace negotiations.

  • Norway’s King Haakon pledges an oath of allegiance to the constitution as his father lies in state

    Norway’s King Haakon pledges an oath of allegiance to the constitution as his father lies in state

    OSLO, Norway – In a historic moment marking the start of a new era for the Norwegian monarchy, King Haakon VIII formally pledged allegiance to Norway’s constitution during a ceremony in Parliament Tuesday. The symbolic step comes just days after the passing of his father, King Harald V, who ruled the Scandinavian nation for 35 years and died last Friday at the age of 89.

    Haakon, who ascended to the throne immediately following Harald V’s death, has chosen the motto “All for Norway” – a phrase that traces its origin back to his great-grandfather, reflecting continuity with the nation’s long royal legacy. On Tuesday morning, the 53-year-old new monarch traveled the short distance from the Royal Palace to the Storting (Norway’s Parliament) in an open vehicle, where the day’s formal proceedings got underway.

    Masud Gharahkhani, the Speaker of the Storting, opened the ceremony by making the official announcement of King Harald V’s death and Haakon’s succession to the throne. After the announcement, Haakon took the historic oath of office, stating: “I promise and swear that I will govern the Kingdom of Norway in accordance with its Constitution and Laws; so help me God, the Almighty and Omniscient.”

    The Norwegian monarchy is one of the oldest continuing institutions in Europe, with roots stretching back to King Harald Fairhair in the 9th century. When Norway regained full independence from Sweden in 1905, a national referendum saw three-quarters of voters support the restoration of the monarchy. Today, while the monarchy holds a largely ceremonial role with all governing power vested in the elected parliament and government, the royal family remains a key cultural and diplomatic asset that helps promote Norway’s interests and image around the globe.

    In the days leading up to the oath-taking ceremony, the late King Harald V’s coffin was transported to the Royal Palace chapel in central Oslo on Monday. The coffin will remain at the chapel ahead of King Harald V’s funeral scheduled for September 9. From Tuesday afternoon through September 8, the chapel will be open daily to allow members of the public to pay their final respects by walking past the coffin. The Royal Palace has issued guidelines for visitors: no photography or videography is permitted inside the chapel, and guests are asked not to leave flowers or other tributes at the site.

    The procession bringing the coffin to the palace chapel on Monday marked the first official public appearance of Haakon’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, since she assumed her new title. The queen had largely stayed out of the public eye after undergoing a lung transplant in June of this year. However, just ahead of Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, the palace announced that Queen Mette-Marit would be unable to attend the event due to post-transplant complications.

    In a statement, the palace shared a comment from Are Holm, a pulmonologist at Oslo University Hospital, who explained that post-transplant complications are not unusual, and that the queen has experienced these complications on multiple occasions, including on the day of the ceremony. “As a result, the Queen must remain under observation throughout the day. Unfortunately, the Queen will therefore be unable to attend the swearing-in ceremony at the Storting today,” Holm said.

  • UK leader Burnham faces lawmakers for first time since taking office

    UK leader Burnham faces lawmakers for first time since taking office

    Six weeks after stepping into the role of United Kingdom Prime Minister, Andy Burnham will finally face questioning from fellow lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday, taking the floor at a moment when dual active conflicts in Europe and the Middle East hang heavily over his core campaign pledges to reboot Britain’s stagnant economy and ease the crippling cost of living crisis.

    Burnham assumed office on July 20, following Keir Starmer’s two-year tenure marked by widespread public pessimism. Since taking power, he has toured the UK to tout a vision of renewed national optimism, rolling out a slate of targeted, modest cost-cutting policies designed to give households and struggling businesses much-needed “breathing space.” These measures include a tax reduction on residential energy bills and lower business levies for pubs and nightclubs, two sectors hit particularly hard by post-pandemic economic volatility and rising energy costs.

    Until Tuesday, however, neither opposition parties nor dissenting voices within Burnham’s own Labour Party have had the opportunity to challenge the prime minister on the details of his commitments, which are being pursued against a fraught backdrop of mounting global security threats and persistent domestic economic strain, amplified by ongoing conflict linked to Iran.

    Parliament returns this week from its summer recess, and Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch — who reshuffled her top opposition team on Monday to appoint new spokespeople for the economy and foreign affairs — will get her first formal chance to grill Burnham on his policy agenda.

    A former Greater Manchester mayor who spent nearly a decade outside of parliamentary politics before winning a House of Commons seat in June, Burnham is set to deliver a flagship statement outlining his vision for a more interventionist yet less centralized British state. According to Downing Street, the prime minister will lay out “a clear plan for how we turn things round” for the UK, highlighting his proposal for greater public oversight of water, energy, and transportation sectors. Burnham argues this increased public involvement will drive long-term economic growth and reduce household financial pressure, though observers remain uncertain how far he intends to reverse decades of privatization in these core economic pillars.

    Opposition lawmakers are prepared with a long list of contentious questions, starting with Burnham’s plan to open a second prime ministerial office dubbed “No. 10 North” in Manchester. Burnham frames the project as a key step to devolve more power to regional leaders and rebalance economic growth away from London and the Southeast, but critics have dismissed it as a costly political gimmick that will do little to address regional inequality.

    Domestic challenges extend far beyond the devolution debate. Burnham is also facing mounting political pressure over the crisis of overcrowding in British prisons, after he was forced to roll back plans to release some low-risk offenders early. The reversal came after widespread public outcry, including a high-profile appeal from the widow of a police officer killed in a hit-and-run who demanded her husband’s killer remain behind bars.

    On the foreign policy front, Burnham has already moved to cement Britain’s longstanding support for Ukraine, making his first international trip as prime minister to Kyiv last month to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to the country’s defense against Russian invasion. Like other Western European allies, the UK faces growing pressure to ramp up military spending to address ongoing aggression from Russia and align with shifting global security priorities, compounded by changes to U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration.

    In the coming weeks, Burnham’s government will be required to detail exactly how it plans to fund its pledge to meet NATO’s target of spending 3.5% of gross domestic product on defense by 2035, a commitment that will require difficult trade-offs with domestic spending priorities. The prime minister also faces a deeply contentious looming decision on whether to approve new oil and gas extraction projects in the North Sea. The policy is publicly backed by U.S. President Donald Trump but faces fierce opposition from climate activists and clean energy advocates who warn expanding fossil fuel production will undermine the UK’s net-zero climate commitments.

  • The election campaign to replace Macron in France is heating up as the summer vacation season ends

    The election campaign to replace Macron in France is heating up as the summer vacation season ends

    PARIS – As France’s annual summer holiday period draws to a close, the 2027 race to succeed Emmanuel Macron as President of France has officially entered its active campaign phase. Macron, constrained by France’s constitutional term limits, cannot run for a third consecutive mandate – a rule that has sparked a flood of candidacies from across the political spectrum, producing one of the largest and most diverse candidate fields in modern French electoral history.

    France holds unique weight across the European Union: it is the bloc’s largest member state by territory, its second-largest national economy, and the only EU member with nuclear weapons capabilities, making this upcoming leadership vote one of the most consequential global elections of 2027. While not all declared and potential candidates will secure the required sponsorship signatures from elected officials to make it onto the April 18 first-round ballot, the historically crowded field already carries significant electoral risks for mainstream parties, analysts warn.

    A crowded fragmented field mirrors the 2002 presidential election, when a record 16 candidates split the first-round vote, allowing far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen – father of current candidate Marine Le Pen – to qualify for the second round, triggering a nationwide political earthquake. That same dynamic could work to Marine Le Pen’s advantage this cycle, experts say.

    Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure became the latest major figure to announce his candidacy over the weekend, joining more than two dozen other politicians who have either formally declared their intent to run or are actively exploring a presidential bid.

    For Marine Le Pen, this 2027 campaign marks her fourth attempt at the presidency, following failed runs in 2017 and 2022, and political analysts and pollsters agree this is her strongest shot at capturing the Elysee Palace for her nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally party. A Le Pen victory would send shockwaves across the European Union, placing one of the bloc’s core member states in the hands of a politician who has spent decades opposing EU integration and many of the bloc’s core collective policies.

    “It’s clearly a crucial election, just because the far right might win this one and it never was the case before,” explained Gilles Ivaldi, a populism and radical right politics researcher at Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po university. “With Le Pen as president, we know that the EU will be weakened. To what extent we don’t know, but we know she’s against the EU. This would create a lot of instability.”

    Polling conducted over the past several months has consistently placed Le Pen as the first-round front-runner, with a high likelihood that she will advance to the May 2 runoff as the top vote-getter – a first for her political career. In both 2017 and 2022, she trailed Macron in the first round before losing decisively in the head-to-head second round.

    Unlike her father, whose 2002 second-round qualification was seen as a massive upset and who was widely rejected by most voters over his ties to WWII Nazi collaborators and repeated hate speech convictions including Holocaust denial, most political observers now see a failure for Marine Le Pen to advance to the runoff as the real upset. Over the past decade, she has worked systematically to distance the National Rally from her father’s extremist rhetoric, and that rebranding has already paid major electoral dividends: since 2024, the National Rally has held the largest number of seats in the powerful lower chamber of the French parliament. She received another critical boost in July, when a Paris appeals court cleared her path to run by reducing a ban on holding public office linked to a prior embezzlement conviction.

    While Le Pen is broadly expected to secure one of the two spots in the decisive runoff, the race for the second spot remains wide open and highly unpredictable. Her most prominent competitors include veteran far-left anti-capitalist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is aiming to reach his first runoff after placing third in 2022 and fourth in both 2017 and 2012, as well as two centrist former prime ministers from Macron’s administration, Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal. Other leading potential candidates include conservative former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, mainstream left European Parliament member Raphaël Glucksmann, and Ecologists party leader Marine Tondelier, who is campaigning ahead of the upcoming birth of her second child.

    Seven of the leading non-Le Pen candidates participated in an unofficial campaign kickoff debate last week at Paris’ iconic Roland Garros tennis arena, where they discussed policy proposals to address France’s persistent economic struggles and exchanged critical barbs aimed at Le Pen, who responded with criticism of her own.

    Polls currently indicate that if Le Pen and Mélenchon – the two candidates representing the far right and far left extremes – face off in the runoff, Le Pen would be likely to win. That scenario has led to speculation that some mainstream candidates may eventually drop out of the race to consolidate support behind a single mainstream alternative. “What we don’t know is who’s going to be against her” in a possible second-round matchup, Ivaldi noted. “The more the fragmentation, the more the chances that Mélenchon will be that person.”

    This 2027 campaign is unfolding against an unusually volatile global and domestic backdrop unmatched by any French presidential race this century. The ongoing Iran conflict has driven up energy costs, adding further pressure to France’s already stagnant economy, while the war in Ukraine has left French policymakers concerned that Russia could target a NATO ally next, raising the risk of broader European conflict. A potential second Donald Trump U.S. presidency has also eroded French confidence in the stability of the trans-Atlantic alliance, while China’s growing manufacturing and export power and the rapid global AI revolution have stoked fears that France could fall behind economically and technologically.

    Domestically, France’s growing and increasingly costly public debt has shrunk the fiscal room for maneuver that Macron’s successor will inherit, and widespread public anger over Macron’s policy decisions during his two terms led to repeated mass street protests. Ultimately, the election will turn on whether French voters choose to upend the established order by backing two extreme candidates in the runoff, or rally around a mainstream candidate as a safer alternative. “It will be quite interesting to see which of these two forces will win in the end,” Ivaldi said. “These are two different forces, two antagonistic forces that are playing against one another.”

  • Transfer deadline day for Europe’s top soccer leagues with Balogun expected to be among the movers

    Transfer deadline day for Europe’s top soccer leagues with Balogun expected to be among the movers

    Tuesday marks the final day of the summer transfer window for Europe’s top five soccer leagues, and the 24 hours have shaped up to be one of the most frantic deadlines in recent memory, with a string of high-profile deals expected to cross the line before clocks run out. Among the most anticipated outgoing moves is American striker Folarin Balogun, who is on the cusp of a transfer from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco to Premier League club Everton, multiple industry reports confirm.

    Across the Premier League, defending champion Manchester City continues its aggressive spending spree, closing in on a £60 million ($81 million) deal to sign Everton winger Iliman Ndiaye. The agreement for Ndiaye is expected to put an end to City’s widely reported pursuit of Liverpool attacker Cody Gakpo. City has also been linked with a blockbuster move for Chelsea midfield star Enzo Fernandez throughout the entire window, but time is rapidly running out for the Etihad Stadium side to get a deal over the line before the window closes. In outgoing business from City, winger Jack Grealish is set to return to Everton on a season-long loan deal, sources confirm.

    So far, the summer 2025 transfer window for the Premier League is on track to break all previous spending records, with total outlay across league clubs already hitting £2.82 billion ($3.8 billion). The current all-time record for a single Premier League transfer window stands at £3.14 billion ($4.25 billion) set back in 2023, a mark that is expected to be surpassed before Tuesday’s closure. The Premier League window will officially close at 22:00 GMT, while rival top leagues across the continent have earlier cutoff times: Germany, France and Italy all close at 18:00 GMT, with Spain’s window shutting one minute before 22:00 GMT at 21:59 GMT.

    One of the first high-profile deals completed on deadline day sees Aston Villa add 19-year-old winger Ibrahim Mbaye from Paris Saint-Germain, a transfer that continues PSG’s massive summer sell-off that has now brought in a combined $460 million in transfer revenue for the French giants. Mbaye joins a reshaped Villa attacking line that has already added Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho this window. Unai Emery’s side, which qualified for the Champions League last season, has endured a rocky start to the new domestic campaign, dropping all three points in its opening two league matches.

    In La Liga, one of the biggest deadline-day moves sees Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus complete a three-year transfer from Arsenal to FC Barcelona. Jesus struggled with repeated injury issues during his tenure at the Emirates Stadium, but still contributed to Arsenal’s 2024-25 Premier League title triumph. Jesus is the latest forward to exit Arsenal this window: Leandro Trossard already completed a move to Turkish side Besiktas, while first-team winger Gabriel Martinelli and young star Ethan Nwaneri are both expected to finalize exits before the Premier League window closes.

    Across Serie A, Newcastle United forward Nick Woltemade is reported to be finalizing a season-long loan move to Juventus, just 12 months after he moved to the Premier League from the German domestic league.

    In the Bundesliga, the biggest deadline-day signing to date sees 20-year-old Spanish center forward Marc Guiu move from Chelsea to RB Leipzig on a permanent five-year contract, for a total fee that could rise to 17 million euros ($19.7 million). Guiu was part of Chelsea’s 2024 Conference League and Club World Cup-winning squad, but never managed to secure a regular first-team spot at the London club, failing to score a single Premier League goal during his tenure.

  • Hopes high, expectations low for Germany as it prepares to host Women’s Basketball World Cup

    Hopes high, expectations low for Germany as it prepares to host Women’s Basketball World Cup

    BERLIN – A series of pre-tournament setbacks, including multiple key player injuries and three consecutive warm-up losses, have failed to dampen the competitive spirit and medal ambitions of the host German national team ahead of the 20th FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, kicking off this week in the German capital.

    This year marks only the second time Germany has qualified for the quadrennial global tournament, 28 years after the country last hosted the event in 1998. On that historic first appearance, Germany advanced to the second group stage, and this year’s squad has set its sights on exceeding that achievement by claiming a podium finish. That goal, however, comes with significant hurdles: the team will be missing its biggest star, Satou Sabally of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, who continues to recover from a concussion – her second brain injury of 2026, sustained during a June match against the Las Vegas Aces.

    Injury struggles extend beyond the elder Sabally. Her younger sister Nyara Sabally, who plays for the Toronto Tempo, has yet to return to action from a calf injury, while another key WNBA-based German player, Leonie Fiebich of New York Liberty, only recently resumed training following a prolonged foot injury recovery. Team captain Marie Gülich also just made her return to the court from a serious knee injury, stepping back into play during Germany’s 65-60 warm-up loss to Spain.

    Germany’s preparations for the expanded 16-team tournament have been far from ideal, with the squad dropping three straight warm-up matches to Spain, Hungary, and most recently a narrow 63-62 defeat to Turkey in Cologne last Thursday. Despite the disappointing run of results, German guard Luisa Geiselsöder emphasized that warm-up results do not define the team’s tournament outlook. “Of course, we were hoping for a win but it was just a friendly,” she noted.

    A major factor in the team’s underwhelming warm-up form is the absence of three WNBA-based players – Satou Sabally, Fiebich, and Portland Fire’s Frieda Bühner – who missed the exhibition matches due to club commitments. Head coach Olaf Lange says their arrival will transform the squad’s dynamic. “We learned a lot today,” Lange said after the Turkey defeat. “But with the three (WNBA players yet to arrive) we’re a completely different team.”

    Lange also added that recent MRI results give him confidence Nyara Sabally will be fit enough to feature in the tournament. When the event gets underway, Germany will rely heavily on veteran combo guard Alexis Peterson to anchor the team’s offensive playmaking as key contributors work their way back to full match fitness.

    Germany opens its 2026 World Cup campaign on Friday with a rematch against familiar rival Spain at the 14,000-capacity Berlin Arena, the main tournament venue renamed temporarily for the competition to avoid confusion over the venue’s frequently changing commercial sponsor naming rights. A second group stage match will follow on Saturday against Japan at Berlin’s historic Max-Schmeling-Halle, a 9,000-seat multipurpose venue named after legendary 1932 German heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmeling, which will also host additional tournament matches. Germany closes out Group A play against Mali on September 7, a match most analysts project as a winnable contest for the host side.

    Ahead of the opening tip, Germany faces an uphill battle against Spain: the two sides have met seven times in competitive play, and Germany has never come away with a win. Their most recent matchup came during the EuroBasket group stage in Hamburg last year, where Spain claimed a comfortable 79-60 victory. For this tournament, only the bottom-placed team from each of the four groups will be eliminated from competition. Group winners earn an automatic spot in the quarterfinals, while second and third-placed teams advance to knockout playoffs to claim the remaining quarterfinal slots.

    Despite the on-court challenges facing the host team, organizers are celebrating unprecedented public interest in the tournament. Officials confirmed earlier this week that more than 200,000 tickets have already been sold – a new record for the Women’s Basketball World Cup, surpassing totals from every previous edition. The September 13 final is already completely sold out.

    German Basketball Federation president Ingo Weiss hailed the milestone as a sign of growing global popularity for women’s basketball. “We’re witnessing an extraordinary evolution of our sport, and this World Cup in Berlin will mark another major milestone,” Weiss said. “200,000 tickets is a fantastic sign, and we’re far from finished yet.”

  • Russian barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine’s capital region kills at least 11

    Russian barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine’s capital region kills at least 11

    In a sustained escalation of air attacks targeting Ukrainian population centers, Russia launched another massive overnight aerial barrage that extended into Tuesday morning, leaving at least 11 civilians dead and more than 10 others injured, three of whom are children, according to local Ukrainian officials. The coordinated assault, which began at 6 p.m. Monday, marked the sixth straight day of targeted strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, part of an unbroken, multi-day campaign of air raids that first launched last week. Ukrainian Air Force officials reported that Russia deployed a wide arsenal of weaponry for the attack, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, anti-radar missiles, 218 attack drones and decoy aerial devices. Roughly one-third of the drones deployed were powered by jet engines, a faster and more lethal platform that has become increasingly common in recent Russian strikes, officials added. Primary targets for the latest assault were concentrated in the Kyiv and Odesa regions, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed in an official statement posted to Telegram. The unrelenting pace of attacks has left Kyiv and its civilian population trapped in prolonged danger and daily disruption, with strikes occurring around the clock across both daytime and overnight hours, and air raid alerts remaining active at a near-constant rate across the capital. The latest barrage hit civilian infrastructure and residential properties across multiple districts of Kyiv. Eight fatalities were recorded within Kyiv city limits, while three additional deaths occurred in surrounding areas of the Kyiv region. Seven of the capital’s deaths were concentrated in the Darnytskyi district, where emergency services confirmed one person was critically wounded and admitted to a local hospital. At a second impact site in the same district, an explosion left two people injured, one of them a child. An eighth fatality was recorded in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, where a non-residential building was struck and ignited a large blaze, emergency services said. In the Solomianskyi district, a drone strike hit a multi-unit residential building, causing extensive structural damage. First responders managed to rescue one man and extract a woman who had been trapped under fallen rubble after the strike. Across the broader Kyiv region, outside the capital’s city boundaries, three people were killed and 12 others were injured. In the Kyiv suburb of Boryspil, which hosts one of Ukraine’s largest international airports, the strike left three vehicles engulfed in flames and damaged a local infrastructure facility, where a truck also caught fire. Emergency teams evacuated 48 local residents and pulled two people alive from collapsed rubble. Eight people in Boryspil suffered injuries, including two children. Two people were killed at the damaged infrastructure site, while one additional fatality was recorded at a damaged local service station in the city. Further south, the Odesa region also suffered a major Russian overnight attack that damaged multiple pieces of civilian infrastructure and left one person wounded, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper. Two residential buildings suffered damage, and a large fire broke out at a local sewing factory in the strikes. Russian forces also targeted the Orlivka international ferry crossing, which connects Ukraine to neighboring Romania on the Black Sea coast, Kiper confirmed. For their part, Ukrainian air defense forces announced that they successfully intercepted and neutralized 199 aerial targets launched in the assault, including five ballistic missiles and 187 drones. Ukrainian military officials noted that missile and drone impact sites were recorded across 28 Ukrainian locations, while debris from downed Russian weapons fell across 10 additional sites that were not directly targeted. This ongoing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict can be found in full at the Associated Press’ dedicated conflict hub.

  • Stocks slip on Wall Street under pressure from rising oil prices, bond sell-off

    Stocks slip on Wall Street under pressure from rising oil prices, bond sell-off

    Wall Street kicked off September on a downbeat note Tuesday, with major stock indices retreating as climbing crude oil prices reignited investor fears over persistent inflation and tighter future monetary policy. As of 10:51 a.m. Eastern Time, the benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 164 points (0.3%), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.7%.

    This weak opening comes after a generally positive but volatile August, when every major U.S. stock index secured monthly gains. Yet long-running economic anxieties continue to hang over global markets, with concerns over sticky inflation, ballooning government debt and the spillover effects of global geopolitical conflicts weighing heavily on investor sentiment.

    Technology stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, pulling the broader market down due to their outsized market capitalizations. Chipmaking giant Nvidia declined 1.2%, while rival Advanced Micro Devices fell 2.9% amid the downward pull.

    A key source of market pressure stems from the ongoing global sell-off in government bonds, which has pushed yields steadily higher. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which heavily influences domestic mortgage rates, climbed to 4.77% from 4.75% at Monday’s close, up sharply from a 2026 starting low of 4.20%. The 2-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks market expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate movements, also ticked up to 4.37% from 4.34%, a substantial rise from its 3.50% level at the start of 2026. Bond yields move inversely to bond prices, and rising yields reflect investor demand for higher returns as sovereign debt risk grows amid expanding national deficit levels. Just two weeks ago, the U.S. national debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold, a milestone that has drawn fresh attention to the country’s unsustainable spending trajectory, where defense costs and interest payments on the growing deficit already account for a massive share of federal outlays. Bond sell-offs are not isolated to the U.S., with sovereign debt facing similar pressure across other major global economies.

    Higher bond yields translate to elevated borrowing costs for a wide range of consumer and business loans, from home mortgages to corporate lines of credit. These higher costs dampen overall economic activity, weigh on corporate valuations and discourage business expansion, creating broad headwinds for equity markets.

    At the center of the current inflation and yield pressure is the recent surge in global oil prices. International benchmark Brent crude rose 2% to $92.28 per barrel on Tuesday, with costs remaining high and volatile following U.S. military strikes on Iranian sites in the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic waterway is responsible for roughly 20% of global oil shipments, and ongoing conflict has effectively disrupted regular passage through the route.

    Surging oil prices have pushed up costs across nearly every sector of the economy, from retail gasoline to freight shipping, sustaining inflation that has continued to squeeze household budgets and corporate profit margins. Current U.S. inflation remains well above 3%, far exceeding the Federal Reserve’s 2% long-term target. The persistently high price environment has fueled expectations that the Fed will implement another interest rate hike before the end of the year to cool price growth. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, investors are currently pricing in a 66% probability of a rate increase at the central bank’s upcoming September policy meeting.

    The Fed will receive new inflation data ahead of its scheduled meeting, and this week also brings key updates on the state of the U.S. labor market, a key factor influencing the central bank’s policy decisions. On Tuesday, government data showed U.S. job openings rose slightly in July, and the closely watched monthly nonfarm payrolls report for August is set for release on Friday.

    Global markets echoed the downward trend on Tuesday: major European stock indices traded lower, while Asian markets finished the session mixed. AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Michelle Chapman and Matt Ott contributed reporting to this article.

  • Russian strike hits rail workers in new deadly attacks on Kyiv

    Russian strike hits rail workers in new deadly attacks on Kyiv

    Fresh wave of Russian overnight airstrikes targeting Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas has left at least 12 civilians and infrastructure workers dead, with another 17 people wounded—including two minors, local Ukrainian authorities confirmed Monday. The deadly attack is the second major escalation against the Kyiv region in less than a week, coming on the heels of a previous strike that claimed 38 lives last Friday.

    Among the fatalities recorded in Kyiv proper, six were employees of Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state-owned railway operator, who were at a city rail depot when it sustained a direct hit. Four additional deaths were recorded in Boryspil, a major town located just outside Kyiv that is home to one of the country’s busiest international airports. Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, confirmed that the strikes damaged multiple civilian sites and residential buildings, igniting large blazes that spread across three of the capital’s administrative districts. Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the fires, extract survivors from rubble, and provide urgent medical care to the injured.

    In an official statement following the attack, Russia’s ministry of defense claimed the operation was a “massive strike” deployed with advanced high-precision weapons, and that targets were limited to Ukraine’s military-industrial complexes and fuel-energy infrastructure. However, the attack’s impact has fallen heavily on non-military sites and workers, contradicting Russia’s stated targeting parameters.

    Friday’s prior strike in the Kyiv region hit a Ukrainian weapons depot, triggering a series of secondary detonations from stored shells, mines, and unmanned aerial vehicles that drove the death toll to 38. The repeated attacks on the Kyiv area are part of Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022 and has entered its fifth year of active conflict.

  • In a scorching Spain, the traditional folding hand fan is having a moment

    In a scorching Spain, the traditional folding hand fan is having a moment

    Across Spain’s packed metro carriages, sunbaked public squares, open-air festivals and crowded event venues, one iconic traditional accessory has made a striking resurgence this summer, driven by a string of record-breaking heat waves that have pushed temperatures across Western Europe to dangerous, sweltering highs. The abanico, Spain’s classic handheld folding fan, is compact enough to tuck into a purse or jacket pocket, and with a single flick of the wrist, it unfurls into a wide semicircle that generates a surprisingly cool, refreshing breeze without relying on batteries or electricity.

    This summer, as successive heat domes sent temperatures climbing above 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) across much of the Iberian Peninsula, the abanico has cemented its status as an essential summer staple, embraced by people of all ages and genders both locally and among visiting tourists. Where once it was largely seen as a women’s accessory, more men are now carrying the fans, pulling them out to cool down on crowded public transit, at outdoor music concerts, and beneath the beating sun at summer festivals. During Madrid’s vibrant annual Pride celebrations in July, rainbow-patterned abanicos were ubiquitous across the city’s parade routes and gathering spaces.

    On a sweltering August day in central Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, 20-year-old Ana Feliu spoke with the Associated Press while shielding herself from the sun with a lightweight paper abanico she received as a gift at a festival in Valencia. She carries one with her everywhere she goes during the summer months, noting that this particular fan is her favorite, but she maintains a large collection of different designs for different occasions. The Spanish capital had forecast highs of 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) for that Thursday and Friday, making constant cooling a daily necessity. Nearby, 53-year-old David González fanned himself with a vibrantly hued fan decorated in shades of pink, purple, and red. “At first, I felt a little self-conscious, because it’s something that’s mainly associated with women, but I have to admit it serves a purpose — and it brightens my day,” he explained.

    The history of the folding fan in Spain stretches back hundreds of years, with deep global roots. Historians trace the accessory’s arrival in Europe to 15th and 16th-century Portuguese maritime trade routes connecting the continent to Asia, where handheld folding fans had been used for millennia. As folding fans grew fashionable among royal courts across Western Europe, Spain developed its own robust fan-making industry: Madrid emerged as an early production hub, and by the 18th century, Valencia had become the country’s undisputed fan-making capital. By the 1800s, the abanico was so deeply woven into Spanish aristocratic culture that women developed a subtle nonverbal “language of the fan,” using different movements and positions to discreetly communicate flirtation, romantic interest, or disapproval to others in social settings.

    From Spain, the abanico traveled across the Atlantic to Latin America, and by the 19th century, it had become a core expressive prop for flamenco dance, shaped in part by Cuban musical and dance traditions like the guajira that influenced flamenco’s evolution. Over time, the fan’s close connection to flamenco turned it into one of the most recognizable quintessential symbols of Spanish culture. “The fan is a perfect element because, on the one hand, it evokes the heat and humidity of Cuba — that heavy, oppressive feeling,” explained Carmen Torres, a 44-year-old flamenco dancer based in southern Spain. “And at the same time, it gives us a way to bring out the seductive, coquettish quality that defines so much of the performance.”

    For long-standing fan businesses across Spain, this summer’s heat waves have been a major boon, boosting sales to levels not seen in decades. At Casa de Diego, a wood-paneled fan shop in central Madrid that has been operated by the Llerandi family for more than 150 years, business has been booming this season. “We live from the heat,” said Javier Llerandi, the shop’s current owner. The store sells exclusively Spanish-made abanicos, ranging from simple two-tone wooden models priced around 30 euros ($35) to elaborate, hand-painted luxury pieces crafted from mother-of-pearl with intricate floral designs that can cost as much as 6,000 euros (nearly $7,000). Llerandi explains that prices shift dramatically based on the materials used, and even more so on the level of hand workmanship required for each piece. As Madrid has grown into a top global tourist destination, foreign visitors have become some of the shop’s most enthusiastic customers, drawn to the fan’s reliability compared to modern battery-powered portable coolers. “Battery-run items eventually run out of power, and always at the worst possible moment,” Llerandi said with a smile. “Without a doubt, heat waves are good for this business.”

    For budget-focused shoppers and casual users, low-cost printed plastic or paper abanicos are available for just a few euros at street souvenir kiosks and market stalls across the country, and vendors across Madrid reported similarly strong sales this summer. Outside Madrid’s iconic Las Ventas bullring, for example, vendor Juani Duran sells wooden abanicos decorated with traditional floral patterns for five euros apiece ahead of bullfights, which take place in open-air stadiums where spectators often wear formal, layered attire. “You’ll usually find a hand fan in any woman’s pocket — and in some men’s, too,” Duran said ahead of a late-August bullfight. Acknowledging the more affordable quality of her stock, she added, “They’re not the best quality, but they’ll get you through the summer.”