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  • Norway mourns King Harald as Haakon VIII ascends throne

    Norway mourns King Harald as Haakon VIII ascends throne

    Norway has entered a period of national mourning following the peaceful death of its long-reigning and widely adored King Harald V at the age of 89, who passed away early Friday morning at Oslo’s Rikshospitalet while receiving treatment for a rare blood disorder he had been suffering from for a week. Within hours of the official announcement of his death, thousands of mourners streamed to the gates of the Royal Palace in Oslo, laying bouquets of flowers, national flags, and handwritten tributes, including a lit candle inscribed with the simple word “thanks” that captured the collective gratitude of the nation. Many in the crowd openly wept, sharing personal stories of connection to the monarch who was widely known as the “people’s king” for his approachable, empathetic leadership.

    Immediately after the official confirmation of his father’s passing, 53-year-old Haakon VIII convened an extraordinary meeting of the Council of State with senior government ministers. Following the gathering, the new monarch confirmed he would retain the Norwegian royal family’s centuries-old motto “All for Norway” during his reign. Haakon’s wife Mette-Marit is now formally recognized as Queen, while his 22-year-old daughter Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra stands next in the line of succession, a position secured by a 1990 change to Norway’s succession laws that granted equal inheritance rights to firstborn female heirs. Ingrid Alexandra stood beside her father during Friday’s official meeting, marking her first public appearance in her new formal role as heir apparent.

    Tributes to King Harald V have poured in from across Norway and the globe. European royal houses, including Britain’s King Charles III – who shares a second-cousin familial tie with Harald through his mother Queen Elizabeth II – joined heads of state, political leaders, and public figures in honoring his decades of service. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who laid a floral tribute at the palace and signed the official book of condolences after meeting the new king, emphasized that the entire country was “united in grief and gratitude.” In a televised national address, Støre noted that Harald’s legacy of steady, inclusive leadership would endure, extending particular sympathy to Queen Sonja, who was set to celebrate her 58th wedding anniversary with Harald on the day after his death.

    Public figures across Norwegian society have also shared their remembrances. Star national footballer Erling Haaland, who met Harald at the palace earlier this summer following Norway’s performance at the FIFA World Cup, posted a public tribute on Instagram thanking the late king for “everything you meant to Norway.” For many Norwegians, including new residents and immigrants, Harald’s ability to make all members of society feel welcome defined his legacy. “He made us feel at home and he made us feel loved. So he was like a grandfather that I never had,” Biteya Terfassa, an Ethiopian-born Oslo resident, told reporters outside the palace Friday.

    In a formal military tribute to the late king, the Norwegian Armed Forces fired a 21-gun salute at noon from Akershus Fortress in central Oslo. Later on Friday, a formal procession carried Harald’s remains from Rikshospitalet’s chapel to the Royal Palace, ahead of a formal funeral that has not yet been scheduled. Norway’s official period of national mourning will remain in place until the day of the funeral, with all flags across the country flying at half-mast, public portraits of the king displayed, and moments of silence held at all official and professional events. All non-essential work-related social gatherings have been canceled or postponed, including the planned wedding of Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe, who rescheduled her own ceremony to honor the mourning period.

    Haakon VIII assumes the throne at an unusually challenging juncture for the Norwegian royal family, which has faced a series of high-profile scandals and health crises over the past year. Earlier this year, Queen Mette-Marit faced intense public scrutiny after revelations emerged of a three-year friendship with disgraced convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, for which she issued a public apology. Later in 2026, she underwent a life-saving lung transplant to treat pulmonary fibrosis, a condition she has lived with since 2018. Medical officials have stated she will not be deemed medically stable until 2027, meaning the new king must balance his demanding new official duties with ongoing care and support for his wife.

    Additional controversy has come from Marius Borg Høiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a previous relationship, who was raised as part of the royal family after Haakon married Mette-Marit. In June, Høiby was convicted of rape and multiple related offenses, and sentenced to four years in prison, a ruling he is currently appealing. Though Høiby holds no formal royal title, his high profile within the royal household has drawn sustained negative attention to the family.

    Despite King Harald V retaining high personal approval ratings until his death, polling published earlier this year by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten found public support for the monarchy itself has fallen from 72% in 2024 to 54% currently. Still, royal analysts interviewed by the BBC noted that Haakon VIII is widely viewed as a respected, hard-working public figure, and expressed confidence that he can steady the institution and navigate the current challenges facing his family and reign.

  • Serbia’s president criticizes UN court for not releasing war criminal Mladic to die at home

    Serbia’s president criticizes UN court for not releasing war criminal Mladic to die at home

    One week after a United Nations court rejected a final humanitarian appeal to release the convicted former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, the 84-year-old war criminal died in his Dutch prison cell while serving a full life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s Balkan Wars.

    Mladic’s passing on Thursday has reignited bitter divides across the former Yugoslavia, with Serbian leaders lambasting the UN tribunal for its refusal to grant early release, while families of his thousands of victims say his death in custody closes one chapter of long-sought justice.

    Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic issued a harsh rebuke of the court’s decision on Friday, framing the rejection of Mladic’s early release as an unethical, unprecedented act. Multiple requests for compassionate release had been submitted by Mladic’s family and the Serbian government over recent years, centered on claims that Mladic’s advanced age and severe declining health justified releasing him to end his life in his home region.

    “That was uncivilized behavior, unprecedented and without excuse,” Vucic told reporters in Belgrade. “We can now see that they wanted Mladic to die behind bars.”

    Mladic, one of the most notorious figures of the 1992–1995 Bosnian War that killed over 100,000 people and displaced more than 1 million, was captured by Serbian authorities in 2011 after 16 years as a fugitive. In 2017, the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to life imprisonment for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre – Europe’s first formally recognized genocide since World War II – which saw more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys systematically executed after Mladic’s forces overran a UN-declared safe haven. Mladic’s troops also led the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of a capital city in modern European warfare, established concentration camps for non-Serb civilians, and carried out widespread ethnic cleansing campaigns across Bosnia.

    In its August 20 ruling rejecting Mladic’s final release request, Mechanism President Judge Graciela Gatti Santana explained the decision by noting that the convict received comprehensive, high-quality compassionate medical care in detention, and was granted an expanded family visitation program that allowed for consistent, meaningful contact with loved ones. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which inherited the cases of the now-closed Yugoslav war crimes court, opened an official inquiry into Mladic’s death this week, with the lead judge visiting the Dutch detention center on Friday to investigate the circumstances of his passing. The tribunal has not yet released any additional public comment on the death.

    Public reactions to Mladic’s passing have mirrored decades of division over the Balkan wars and his legacy. In Mladic’s hometown of Kalinovik, Bosnia, and in majority-Serb communities across the region, residents held candlelight vigils this week, honoring Mladic as a national hero who defended Serb interests. Many residents insist the convictions against him are fabricated propaganda. “He could not have been a better man. Everything else is just a bunch of lies. He would not touch anyone, child, no one. It’s all lies,” said Stojanka Visnjevac, a Kalinovik local.

    For survivors and families of Mladic’s victims, however, his death while in custody brings a long-awaited measure of closure. Fazila Efendic, a Srebrenica survivor who lost multiple family members in the 1995 massacre, said that for victims, the outcome is a confirmation of justice. “We, the victims, are satisfied, when we know that he was convicted to life in prison,” she said. “For us, it is important that he is convicted and that he served his sentence until he died.”

    Discussions around Mladic’s burial have already sparked new regional tensions. Vucic confirmed Friday that Mladic’s family will choose the final resting place, and that the Serbian government will support a dignified burial if the family requests interment on Serbian territory. He declined to confirm or deny earlier unconfirmed reports that Mladic would receive a state funeral – a prospect that triggered widespread outrage from leaders and victim groups across Bosnia and the wider Balkans. As of Friday, the Serbian government had not received official confirmation of when Mladic’s remains will be transferred from the Netherlands to his family.

  • Damage being assessed after ‘significant’ Killarney flash floods

    Damage being assessed after ‘significant’ Killarney flash floods

    A sudden, intense flash flooding event has hit the popular town of Killarney in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, after extreme rainfall overwhelmed local drainage systems on Thursday evening. Over just four hours, the area recorded a total of 57 millimeters of rain, with a staggering 30 millimeters falling within a single hour – a volume that overwhelmed local infrastructure quickly. According to local authorities, this extreme downpour triggered widespread surface flooding across most of the town’s road network, leaving many routes completely impassable to motorists and pedestrians for several hours.

    Emergency response teams were mobilized rapidly to the affected area, with crews from Kerry County Council, Kerry Fire Service and Kerry Civil Defence all arriving on scene by approximately 7:00 PM local time. Fire service crews deployed high-capacity pumps to clear standing water from critical road corridors, working through the evening to reopen blocked routes. In the aftermath of the flooding, Kerry County Council teams have begun systematic assessments of damage across the town, while also coordinating directly with residential and commercial properties that have been impacted by floodwater. The local authority has confirmed it will offer all necessary support to affected property owners as they begin recovery efforts.

    One major local facility, the Killarney Sports and Leisure Centre, has already announced an extended closure in response to the flood damage. The centre will remain shut for the entire weekend and until further notice, as engineers carry out a full structural and safety assessment to address flood-related damage before it can reopen to the public.

  • Celine Dion is back in Paris, but her first song remains ‘a big secret’

    Celine Dion is back in Paris, but her first song remains ‘a big secret’

    Global pop icon Celine Dion has returned to Paris to kick off her highly anticipated comeback run of live shows, marking her first full concert series since publicly revealing her diagnosis of rare neurological condition stiff-person syndrome. The Grammy-winning artist received a rapturous welcome from adoring fans and assembled media on Friday as she arrived at her central Paris hotel, blowing kisses and forming a heart shape with her hands to greet the cheering crowd. Supporters packed the sidewalk outside the venue, shouting messages of love and excitement including declarations that they were overjoyed to see her back in public.

    Dion is currently preparing for a 16-show residency at Plenitude Arena, located in Paris’ western suburbs, with opening night scheduled for September 12. The residency will run across September and October 2024, followed by an additional 10 shows scheduled for May 2025, all under the official tour banner “Celine Dion Paris 2026-2027”. Speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV, the 58-year-old Quebec-born singer opened up about her emotions ahead of the landmark shows. “I am ready and I’m a bit uptight of course because it’s been a long time,” Dion explained, noting that Paris has long felt like a second home to her. “I have always felt supported from the first day and because it’s a story that continues. It’s true that this is my second home.” When asked to reveal which track would open the first show, Dion playfully kept fans guessing: “I can’t say, it’s a big secret!”

    This concert run stands as a major milestone in Dion’s career, coming after nearly three years away from full-scale touring. The singer first announced her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis in 2022, and later canceled her planned Courage World Tour as her symptoms progressed, leading her to step back from regular public performances. She made a celebrated, brief return to the global stage earlier this summer during the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, where she delivered a haunting performance of *Hymne à l’amour* from the top of the Eiffel Tower, singing through a rainstorm to an audience of millions that spread widely across social media and news outlets.

    One of the most commercially successful and acclaimed artists in modern pop music history, Dion has sold nearly 260 million albums worldwide across her decades-long career. She is globally renowned for signature hits including *My Heart Will Go On* and *Because You Loved Me*, and the upcoming Paris residency will draw from her extensive catalog of chart-topping tracks in both English and French. Plenitude Arena, the venue for the shows, is a 40,000-capacity facility that also served as one of the competition venues during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

  • Oslo mayor cancels own wedding after death of Norway’s king

    Oslo mayor cancels own wedding after death of Norway’s king

    Norway has entered a period of national mourning following the passing of King Harald V, who died earlier this month at Oslo’s national hospital at the age of 87 after receiving treatment for a rare blood disorder. After 35 years on the Norwegian throne, the beloved, reform-focused monarch’s death triggered an immediate wave of tributes from across the country and around the world — including a fateful cancellation of a long-planned wedding from Oslo’s top local leader.

    Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe had been set to marry her fiancé Pål Sandvid on Friday, the same day the king passed away, following a five-year relationship and a public engagement announcement earlier this June. In an immediate confirmation to the BBC, Lindboe’s political adviser confirmed that the mayor had chosen to cancel the wedding, with no new date set for the celebration as of yet.

    Lindboe, who met the late king during an official engagement in March 2025, shared a heartfelt public tribute to King Harald on her Instagram page following the announcement of his death. “It’s hard to imagine an Oslo and a Norway without you. You didn’t need a crowd to be King,” she wrote, adding that “Even the majority of Norwegians who never met you in person still felt like they knew you.”

    King Harald’s reign was defined by breaking long-held royal traditions and unifying the Norwegian people through decades of social and political change. He made history when he married Queen Sonja, a commoner, a choice that upended centuries of unwritten royal custom in Norway. Over his 35 years as monarch, he oversaw a gradual modernization of the Norwegian monarchy, transforming it into a more accessible, approachable institution that retained broad public support across the country.

    Notably, King Harald’s death came just one day before he and Queen Sonja were set to celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary. Immediately after his death, the throne passed smoothly to his son, who was sworn in as King Haakon VIII later that same day, continuing the uninterrupted line of the Norwegian royal family.

    Members of the public have begun leaving floral tributes at a makeshift memorial outside the Royal Palace in central Oslo, as the nation processes the loss of its long-serving head of state. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre delivered a national televised address to mark the king’s passing, telling the country that Norwegians were “united in grief and gratitude” for King Harald’s decades of service, adding that the late monarch’s enduring “legacy lives on.”

    International tributes also poured in from other European royal houses. Britain’s King Charles III released a statement saying he was mourning the loss of his “dear cousin”; King Harald was a second cousin to Charles’ mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and Haakon VIII is a direct great-great-great grandson of Britain’s Queen Victoria, tying the two royal families together across generations.

  • Shootings surge as drug gangs torment Brussels

    Shootings surge as drug gangs torment Brussels

    On a quiet, charming small square in Brussels’ St Gilles district, just steps from the busy international Midi train station that welcomes daily passengers from London and Paris, what should be a bustling community gathering spot has been transformed into a frontline of escalating drug-related violence. Last Monday night, that transformation became impossible to ignore when drug gang gunshots ripped through Salvatore’s local pizzeria, turning a popular evening dining spot into a chilling crime scene.

    Looking over the pockmarked walls still dotted with bullet holes days after the attack, Salvatore, the restaurant’s owner, recounted the terror of the incident: “We dropped to the floor. I had clients eating on the terrace with children. Look, we can see the bullet impacts everywhere.” Shocked by the audacity of the attack, the small business owner voiced the growing anger and fear spreading across the community: “Are we in an American gangster movie? This needs to stop.”

    This shooting was not an isolated incident. It marked the third violent attack in this single neighborhood over just three days. The day before the pizzeria attack, a suspected drug dealer was shot in the leg just across the street from the restaurant. Even a week later, 70-year-old long-time resident Murielle still points out the faint dark stain of a bloodstain on the pavement where the shooting took place.

    Murielle, who now sits daily with her dog Chéva near the site of the attack, says the neighborhood she has loved for years – a close-knit community she describes as “a little village inside the city” – has changed dramatically for the worse. She recalls that even when low-level drug dealing was common years ago, dealers treated local residents with respect: “Even the drug dealers used to be polite and decent. I would just tell them to go further away and they’d say, ‘Yes, ok mama!’ But that’s all changed now.”

    Six months ago, the open-air drug trade in St Gilles intensified dramatically, according to residents. Just five minutes after arriving in the neighborhood, an on-scene reporter witnessed an open drug transaction: a buyer approached a waiting seller, exchanged a handshake, and walked away with contraband in hand. Crack cocaine use has skyrocketed among the most vulnerable, low-income residents of the area, and rival criminal gangs now fight deadly turf wars to control the most profitable dealing spots. Murielle says the trade has become so brazen that customers can regularly be seen lining up to purchase drugs.

    The draw of enormous profits drives this escalating violence. According to Jurgen de Landsheer, chief of Brussels South Police, a prime drug dealing location in the city can net criminal gangs up to €50,000 (approximately $58,000) or more in a single day. Currently, police estimate there are more than 200 active open-air drug dealing points operating across Brussels.

    The surge in drug-related violence in Brussels mirrors a growing crisis across multiple major European cities, most notably the French port city of Marseille. The root of the crisis lies in the massive inflow of cocaine into Europe, with major continental ports acting as the primary entry points for drug cartels. Just 40 kilometers north of Brussels, the Belgian port of Antwerp has reported record-breaking cocaine seizures year after year in recent years, as smuggling groups flood the European market with the drug.

    De Landsheer notes that Brussels gangs have increasingly adopted the brutal violent tactics used by criminal groups in Marseille, though he stresses Brussels has not yet reached the same extreme level of instability. “We don’t have no-go zones here in Brussels,” he says. “It’s not easy to go in some neighbourhoods, but we go everywhere. We don’t want to become like some neighbourhoods in Marseille, so we’ll do everything to stop it.”

    Still, recent violence has reached a new, alarming milestone. Just last weekend, a local Brussels police station became a direct target for criminal gangs – the first time such an attack has occurred in the city. Surveillance footage captured two attackers riding a scooter, pulling up outside the station, and firing multiple rounds at the building’s entrance with a weapon matching the description of an AK-47 assault rifle before fleeing the scene.

    The proliferation of cheap, easy access to heavy weaponry and the recruitment of young, disenfranchised people to carry out attacks has further amplified the danger. De Landsheer explains that criminal gangs pay inexperienced young people just a few hundred euros to carry out contracted attacks: “They get a weapon, AK-47 or other heavy weapon, and then they get a mission. To shoot a person in the leg, for example, or to try to kill somebody. And they get very little money for this.” Many of the young people arrested for these attacks are as young as 12 years old, according to the police chief, creating an extremely high risk for the broader community. “The biggest danger is a stray bullet,” he says, that can hit innocent bystanders regardless of their connection to the drug trade.

    In response to the dramatic spike in shootings, Belgian federal authorities have announced urgent intervention. On Thursday, Belgium’s interior minister confirmed that an additional 40 uniformed police officers would be deployed to the high-risk St Gilles area to crack down on open drug dealing and gang violence.

    Despite the increased police presence, de Landsheer acknowledges that increased law enforcement alone cannot solve the deep-rooted crisis. “There is no magic solution. We need prevention over repression,” he says. “We can do our part and be present in the street, but our society also needs to give a future to the young people, do something with them. That’s the social part.”

    Back in the St Gilles neighborhood, the daily fear has already upended community life. “Nobody sleeps here at the moment,” Salvatore says. “People talk about moving out, houses are losing value.” Even amid the uncertainty, long-time resident Murielle says local residents refuse to be driven out by gang intimidation. “We will not be intimidated,” she says. “We’ll carry on living and we’ll keep on protecting our lovely neighbourhood.”

  • Man charged following cross-border drugs bust

    Man charged following cross-border drugs bust

    A coordinated cross-border law enforcement operation spanning the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland has delivered a major blow to illegal drug trafficking networks, resulting in large seizures of controlled substances, imitation weapons and cash, and the charging of one suspect.

    The operation unfolded on Wednesday, when officers from An Garda Síochána – the Republic of Ireland’s national police force – stopped a vehicle in Dundalk, a town located in County Louth along the Irish border. A search of the vehicle uncovered 119 kilograms, or 262 pounds, of cannabis with an estimated street value of €1.6 million, or approximately £1.4 million.

    Following the initial find, law enforcement teams carried out coordinated follow-up searches at a location in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, working alongside officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). That search yielded an additional 45 kilograms of cannabis, half a kilogram of suspected cocaine, 22 imitation firearms, and £25,000 in criminal proceeds.

    Two men were taken into custody for questioning in connection with the seizure as part of the ongoing multi-agency investigation. Of the two, a man in his 40s has now been formally charged with drug and weapons offenses, and is scheduled to make his first court appearance at Cavan District Court on Friday afternoon.

    Representatives from both An Garda Síochána and the PSNI have confirmed that the investigation into the cross-border trafficking ring is still active, with more potential arrests and prosecutions expected as detectives continue to piece together the network’s operations. Cross-border collaboration has become a key strategy for law enforcement on both sides of the Irish border in disrupting organized criminal groups that exploit the open border to move illegal goods.

  • UK warns against Israel removing it from Gaza ceasefire center, and other news in the Middle East

    UK warns against Israel removing it from Gaza ceasefire center, and other news in the Middle East

    Diplomatic frictions between Israel and European nations have intensified in recent days, following Israel’s decision to expel two Dutch diplomats from a key Gaza ceasefire coordination facility, and emerging reports that Israeli officials are weighing similar action against British and other European personnel. This wave of diplomatic action has injected new uncertainty into international efforts to broker stability in the war-torn Gaza Strip, as of Friday’s latest updates on the escalating Middle East crisis tied to the ongoing Iran-related conflict.

    The United Kingdom has issued a sharp public warning against any Israeli move to oust its officials from the coordination center, after the Financial Times first reported Thursday that Israeli authorities were actively considering expelling British staff, alongside personnel from other European countries. Responding to the report, a British government spokesperson told the Associated Press that the UK remains fully dedicated to upholding its role in advancing the 20-point Gaza peace plan, first agreed to by international stakeholders to de-escalate conflict and improve humanitarian conditions for Palestinian civilians.

    “Any action to remove our officials from the ceasefire coordination center would directly undermine the collective work we are all doing to bring calm to Gaza and support vulnerable populations on the ground,” the spokesperson noted, adding that the UK has no plans to step back from its diplomatic and humanitarian commitments in the region.

    The UK’s warning comes on the heels of a confirmed expulsion of Dutch diplomatic staff. On Thursday, the Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed that Israel had ordered two of its diplomats to exit the Gaza ceasefire coordination center. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar defended the decision publicly, framing it as a targeted response to what he called a string of anti-Israel policy decisions enacted by the Dutch government. Of particular note, Saar cited the Netherlands’ upcoming implementation of a ban on trade with Israeli goods produced in the occupied West Bank and other contested Israeli-held territories, a policy that has drawn fierce criticism from Israeli leadership in recent weeks.

    The unfolding diplomatic standoff highlights growing rifts between Israel and its long-standing European allies over policies related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ongoing Gaza crisis, putting international ceasefire coordination efforts at risk of disruption at a critical moment.

  • Russian drones batter Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting apartments and warehouses for a second day

    Russian drones batter Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting apartments and warehouses for a second day

    For the second consecutive day, Russian forces have unleashed a wave of drone strikes on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, leaving civilian infrastructure damaged and civilian life upended amid a broader escalation of aerial attacks that has spread to both Ukrainian and Russian territory four years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

    Regional and national Ukrainian officials confirmed that the Friday assault damaged more than a dozen apartment blocks, 16 private residences, 14 storage facilities and 16 vehicles across Kyiv region. Emergency responders faced a deliberate secondary hazard: a second drone targeted the same site after first responders arrived, a tactic known as a “double tap” designed to kill rescue workers. As of Friday, the attacks had left one person dead and two injured in Kyiv region, with additional casualties reported across other parts of Ukraine.

    The assault extended the disruption that began a day earlier, when a 15-hour air raid lockdown shut down normal activity across the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry officials noted that such prolonged disruptions have become a daily reality for communities near the front lines, and the latest strikes have already inflicted lasting harm on civilian life and economic activity. Kyiv regional authorities also warned of degraded air quality following the strikes, urging residents in affected areas to stay indoors with windows closed and limit outdoor exposure.

    Ukrainian defense and intelligence officials say the current wave of drone attacks follows a deliberate strategy: launching incremental waves of fast, jet-powered drones to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense systems and wear down civilian morale. “The goal is to exhaust air defenses and the population,” Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, wrote on social media Friday. This seasonal escalation aligns with what Ukrainian officials call Russia’s annual “weaponize winter” campaign, which targets the country’s critical energy infrastructure to force hardship on Ukrainian civilians ahead of the cold months.

    The threat of prolonged winter outages is most acute in the southern Kherson region, 70% of which remains under Russian occupation. A Russian glide bomb strike this week already forced a key combined heat and power plant offline, and regional officials are warning of weeks or even months of total power and heating loss this winter. In a Thursday social media statement, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, urged tens of thousands of remaining residents to relocate to safer parts of Ukraine, noting that Russian strikes on critical infrastructure have increased sharply in recent months. Since the start of July, Russian forces have dropped 170 glide bombs on the region — more than the total in the first half of 2024. Over the past two months alone, Russia has launched more than 1,700 attack drones against Kherson’s infrastructure, with more than 6,500 small drone strikes recorded in just the past week. Prokudin confirmed regional authorities will provide full support for evacuations, including transportation, resettlement and social services for residents who choose to leave.

    Beyond the immediate human cost, the persistent Russian airstrikes are already dragging down Ukraine’s economic outlook. The Ukrainian Ministry of Economy has revised its 2026 GDP growth forecast downward, cutting the projected growth rate from an earlier estimate of 1.3% to just 0.8% due to persistent damage to energy and logistics infrastructure, as well as Russia’s ongoing blockade of Black Sea grain exports. Economy Minister Oleksandr Kravchenko told local news outlet Interfax-Ukraine that while Ukraine posted modest growth in the second quarter of 2024 following 0.6% expansion in the first quarter, further growth remains constrained by the persistent assault on critical infrastructure.

    The latest escalation has not been limited to Ukrainian territory. Overnight into Friday, Ukraine’s air force recorded 164 Russian drones launched across Ukrainian territory. Separately, a Russian glide bomb attack on the northern Sumy region killed a 61-year-old man and wounded seven more.

    In response, Ukraine has stepped up its own drone campaign targeting Russian energy infrastructure, continuing a months-long push to disrupt Russia’s oil and fuel production. Overnight, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed a successful strike on the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region, roughly 600 miles from the Ukrainian border, which sparked a large fire at the facility that produces gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, lubricants and other petroleum products. Russian regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev confirmed the Friday morning attack left one person dead and 27 injured, including 10 who were wounded when drone debris hit a public bus.

    Additional Ukrainian drone strikes were reported across multiple Russian regions on Friday. In the Moscow region, a drone hit a local supermarket, damaging the building and shattering windows at a nearby outpatient clinic, according to regional governor Andrei Vorobyov. In Sevastopol, the major port city on the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, a drone strike caused extensive damage to a five-story residential building, leaving four people wounded, Russian-installed regional governor Mikhail Razvozhayev reported. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses shot down 512 Ukrainian drones overnight across 18 Russian regions, as well as over Crimea and Black Sea waters.

    Moscow has not yet commented on the latest strikes on Kyiv beyond its initial statement confirming it hit a target in Kyiv region that it claimed stored Ukrainian cruise missiles and rocket fuel. Ukrainian officials have not verified this claim, and the Associated Press could not independently confirm the Russian assertion. Past Russian strikes on Kyiv warehouses have hit facilities storing food, books and other civilian goods, rather than exclusively military targets.

  • Who is Norway’s new King Haakon VIII?

    Who is Norway’s new King Haakon VIII?

    Following the passing of the beloved King Harald V, Haakon VIII has formally ascended to the Norwegian throne, launching a new chapter for the Nordic nation’s centuries-old constitutional monarchy. For many Norwegians, the transition carries enormous expectations: King Harald spent decades on the throne earning deep public adoration, reflected in consistently sky-high approval ratings and a nationwide outpouring of grief in the days leading up to his death. Haakon now steps into the role as the fourth monarch of Norway’s modern independent monarchy, which was re-established in 1905 after the country secured full separation from Sweden.

    In one of his first official acts as sovereign, Haakon oversaw a special session of the Norwegian cabinet, where he confirmed his royal title and announced he would carry forward his father’s iconic motto: “Everything for Norway.” The decision aligns with longstanding expectations that Haakon would honor the legacy of his predecessors, as he spent nearly 35 years as crown prince preparing for the role. For years before Harald’s death, Haakon worked closely alongside his father, gradually taking on expanded responsibilities and serving as regent during periods of the late king’s illness and absence. In his own biography, *The King Tells*, Harald expressed unwavering confidence in his son, writing, “I am so lucky that Crown Prince Haakon is the one who will carry this forward.”

    Historians and royal commentators widely agree that while Haakon will bring a different style of leadership to the monarchy, he is well-positioned to earn the same level of public respect as his father. “King Harald was incredibly charismatic, with a wonderful sense of humor that won over people across the country,” Norwegian historian Trond Norén Isaksen explained to the BBC. “Haakon is more reserved, more like his mother Queen Sonja. But in recent years, he has grown more comfortable in the public eye, opened up more, and shown his own sense of humor. He has already carried enormous responsibility for decades, as his parents aged and his wife faced ongoing health struggles.”

    A direct great-great-great-grandson of Britain’s Queen Victoria, Haakon’s ascension also clears the way for a historic shift in the line of succession: his 22-year-old daughter Ingrid Alexandra is now crown princess, and is set to become Norway’s first female monarch since the 15th century. The milestone followed a 1990 constitutional revision that granted women equal right to inherit the throne, reversing the previous law that placed Haakon ahead of his older sister, Princess Märtha Louise, in the succession line.

    Haakon’s own path to the throne has been shaped by non-traditional royal experiences. Born in 1973 as the youngest child of Harald and Sonja, he has spoken openly about struggling to accept his royal status during his youth. “Yes, I was a royal, but I did not want to talk about it… At school it made me anxious,” he wrote in his 2023 autobiography, recalling his time at a local state primary school in the 1980s. He became crown prince in 1991 at just 17 years old, following the death of his grandfather King Olav V.

    Unusually for a European royal, Haakon was educated entirely in local public schools before pursuing a four-year career in the Royal Norwegian Navy, graduating from the Norwegian Naval Academy in 1995. He broke another tradition by declining to attend Oxford University, where his father and grandfather had studied, instead moving to California to earn a degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

    Shortly after returning to Norway, Haakon met Mette-Marit, a woman from a working-class background in Kristiansand, at a local music festival in 1999. The couple’s relationship sparked immediate controversy, with some public commentators drawing parallels to the 1936 abdication of Britain’s Edward VIII over his choice to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, warning that the union could threaten the future of the Norwegian monarchy.

    While Harald had already broken royal tradition three decades earlier by marrying commoner Sonja, Mette-Marit brought a background that clashed with traditional royal expectations: she was a single mother to a four-year-old son, Marius Borg Høiby, whose father had served prison time for cocaine possession, and she had a well-documented history of participation in Oslo’s countercultural party scene. The couple’s decision to cohabitate in an Oslo apartment also drew fierce criticism from the conservative Lutheran Church of Norway, though contemporary polls showed most ordinary Norwegians did not object to the arrangement. Three days before their 2001 wedding, Mette-Marit gave an emotional public interview where she apologized for her “wild past” and condemned drug use, a gesture that marked a turning point in public opinion. She eventually won widespread public affection, becoming a popular advocate for HIV awareness and literacy initiatives, and earned broad sympathy after her 2018 diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis.

    Today, Haakon’s reign begins against an unusually turbulent backdrop for the Norwegian royal family. While the institution remains broadly popular with the public and has long been praised for its progressive, modern outlook, it has faced cascading scandals in recent years that have tested public trust. Earlier this year, Mette-Marit issued a public apology for her years-long friendship with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, admitting she had exercised “poor judgment” and wished she had never met him. Shortly after that controversy, her son Marius was convicted of rape in a high-profile trial that revealed the attack took place on Haakon’s private estate at Skaugum; Marius is currently appealing the conviction. Two days after the trial concluded, Mette-Marit underwent a life-saving lung transplant, eight years after her initial diagnosis, and her long-term health remains uncertain.

    Polling from earlier this year found that nearly half of all Norwegians believe Mette-Marit should never become queen, a challenge the new monarch will have to navigate as he settles into his role. Royal insiders and commentators disagree on how the scandals will shape Haakon’s reign, but most agree that the new king’s approach to addressing the controversies will define his legacy. “The most important thing the royal family can do is be completely open about what actually happened, and not allow public speculation to grow out of control,” said Caroline Vagle, royal correspondent for *Se og Hør* magazine. “But I also don’t think we should overestimate the impact of one or two difficult cases. What will ultimately matter is how the royal family handles them, and how Haakon and the next generation build on the trust that King Harald earned over a lifetime.”

    Tove Taalesen, royal correspondent for Norwegian outlet *Nettavisen*, noted that while the current controversies present significant challenges, Haakon has spent decades preparing for the role and is more than ready to lead. “I’m sure that in the future he will be respected and loved, similar to King Haakon VII, King Olav V and also King Harald V,” Taalesen said.

    As Haakon formally begins his reign, all eyes are on how the new monarch will balance honoring the long legacy of Norway’s modern monarchy with navigating the current period of public scrutiny, and how he will usher in the first female-led reign in more than 500 years when Ingrid Alexandra eventually succeeds him.