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  • Why Russian jets intercepting an RAF spy plane is ‘serious incident’

    Why Russian jets intercepting an RAF spy plane is ‘serious incident’

    A recent encounter between Russian fighter jets and a British Royal Air Force surveillance plane has escalated into what analysts are calling a serious diplomatic and security incident, shining a harsh new spotlight on the already frayed relations between Moscow and the Western military alliance NATO. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, a veteran reporter with deep expertise in Middle Eastern and European security affairs, has broken down how this intercept underscores the growing volatility between Russia and the transatlantic bloc.

    While routine interceptions of military aircraft are not uncommon in international airspace near NATO and Russian borders, the parameters of this specific encounter have elevated it beyond standard protocol to an event that raises alarms about miscalculation and accidental escalation. Gardner’s analysis emphasizes that the incident is not an isolated event, but rather the latest in a steady pattern of increased military posturing and close encounters between Russian and NATO forces that have built up over recent years.

    Tensions between Russia and NATO have remained at post-Cold War highs since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and surged to unprecedented levels following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since that invasion, NATO has bolstered its eastern flank with additional troops, increased air patrols and maritime surveillance operations in regions bordering Russia, leading to a corresponding uptick in Russian interceptions of NATO aircraft. Each close encounter carries inherent risk: a misread maneuver, a miscommunication, or an accidental weapons discharge could quickly spiral into a full-blown conflict between the world’s largest nuclear powers, making even minor incidents a cause for grave international concern.

    Gardner’s reporting frames this latest intercept as a clear indicator that neither side is backing down from its military posture, and that the risk of unintended conflict remains higher than it has been in decades. For Western security officials, the incident serves as a reminder of the need for maintained communication channels to de-escalate tense encounters, even as diplomatic relations between Russia and NATO remain all but frozen.

  • Austrian ex-intelligence officer found guilty of Russia spying charges

    Austrian ex-intelligence officer found guilty of Russia spying charges

    One of the most high-profile espionage trials in recent European history has concluded in Vienna, where a 63-year-old former senior Austrian intelligence official, Egisto Ott, has been found guilty on multiple charges including spying for Russia. The verdict delivered by a local jury has reignited widespread concern that Austria continues to act as a major hub for Russian intelligence activity in Western Europe.

    Over the course of the proceedings, the court detailed nearly five years of illegal activity carried out by Ott between 2015 and 2020. Prosecutors laid out evidence that Ott abused his official position to pull classified information and large volumes of personal data from restricted Austrian police databases, all to support Russian intelligence operations at the expense of Austria’s national security. He passed this sensitive material to both Russian intelligence agents and Jan Marsalek, a fugitive former top executive at the collapsed German payments giant Wirecard, in exchange for undisclosed financial payments, the court confirmed.

    Among the most damaging acts outlined in the trial was Ott’s procurement of a specialized laptop holding encrypted secure communication hardware used by European Union member states. Prosecutors confirmed the device was ultimately handed over directly to Russian intelligence services. In a separate incident, Ott also obtained the work phones of senior Austrian interior ministry officials after the devices were accidentally lost in the Danube River during an official ministry boating trip. He copied all data from the devices and passed the information to Marsalek and Russian intelligence handlers based in Moscow.

    In addition to the espionage conviction, the jury found Ott guilty of misuse of public office, bribery, aggravated fraud, and breach of trust. He was handed a total prison sentence of four years and one month. Ott has consistently denied all charges against him, claiming he was not working for Russia but instead conducting a covert operation in partnership with a Western intelligence agency. His legal team has already filed an appeal against the verdict, extending the legal process for the high-profile case.

    The case has thrown renewed attention on Jan Marsalek, an Austrian citizen who is one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives. Marsalek fled Germany via Austria in 2020 amid the collapse of Wirecard, which collapsed after a massive multi-year accounting fraud that saw the company inflate its balance sheets and sales figures by billions of euros. He is currently believed to be hiding out in Moscow, and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, meaning he can be arrested immediately if he steps into the territory of any of Interpol’s 196 member countries. Beyond his Wirecard fraud charges, Marsalek is also suspected of being a covert Russian intelligence asset, and is alleged to have overseen a network of Bulgarian spies convicted of spying for Russia in London in 2025.

    When Ott was first taken into custody in 2024, then-Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer labeled the case a direct “threat to democracy and our country’s national security.” Today’s conviction has done little to ease those long-held concerns, with the scandal once again putting Austria under international scrutiny over its reputation as a hub for Russian espionage activity in Europe.

  • Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley added as assistant captains for Presidents Cup

    Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley added as assistant captains for Presidents Cup

    MEDINAH, Illinois — U.S. Presidents Cup skipper Brandt Snedeker has filled two of his assistant captain roles, announcing the appointments of Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley this Wednesday. The hirings bring veteran leadership and recent top-level captaincy experience to Snedeker’s team ahead of the September tournament at Medinah Country Club.

    Furyk, who was named U.S. Ryder Cup captain just last month, holds the distinction of being the most recent winning Presidents Cup team skipper, having led the U.S. to victory at the 2024 edition hosted at Royal Montreal. Bradley, who competed in the 2024 Presidents Cup as a player, served as U.S. Ryder Cup captain at Bethpage Black in 2025, where his team fell to the European side.

    In his statement announcing the appointments, Snedeker highlighted the pair’s deep history leading American golf squads and their widespread credibility among tour players of all age groups. “Both guys have incredible experience as leaders representing the United States and they’ve each earned the respect of players across generations,” Snedeker said.

    The 45-year-old captain, who just claimed victory at the Myrtle Beach Classic two weeks prior, still has two additional assistant captain positions left to fill before the tournament kicks off. The 12-team match play event is scheduled to run from September 24 to 27 at Medinah’s championship course.

    First launched in 1994, the Presidents Cup pits the U.S. team against an International side composed of top players from across the globe, excluding Europe. In the tournament’s 30-plus year history, the U.S. has only suffered one defeat — a 1998 loss that remains the sole blemish on the side’s dominant record in the competition.

  • Holy deception: Rome’s ‘sexy priest’ calendar star never set foot in a seminary

    Holy deception: Rome’s ‘sexy priest’ calendar star never set foot in a seminary

    For nearly a quarter century, a striking black-and-white calendar showcasing close-up portraits of handsome young men in priestly collars has held its place as a quirky staple souvenir for visitors to Rome. But a recent bombshell report from leading Italian daily La Repubblica has pulled back the curtain on a decades-long open secret: the overwhelming majority of the men featured in the popular publication are not men of the cloth at all.

    The face most closely associated with the calendar, officially titled *Calendario Romano*, belongs to Giovanni Galizia, a 39-year-old flight attendant for a Spanish airline who posed for his iconic cover shot at just 17 years old. Speaking to The Associated Press from his home in Verona earlier this week, Galizia recalled that the 1990s shoot in his native Palermo was nothing more than a casual joke arranged by mutual friends who connected him to the calendar’s creator, photographer Piero Pazzi. The enigmatic Mona Lisa-like smile that has graced countless covers for 23 of the calendar’s 26 years? It was just the awkward grin of a teenager embarrassed by his friends laughing off-camera at his costume.

    “It was the smile of an embarrassed kid, because I saw all my friends in front of me laughing out loud because I was dressed like I was a priest,” Galizia explained. The one-off gig left no impact on his life until this week, when La Repubblica’s exposé turned the little-known secret into national news across Italy.

    Pazzi, the photographer behind the project, is no stranger to quirky creative ventures: he has previously produced calendars of Venetian gondoliers and founded cat history museums in Budapest and Montenegro. His *Calendario Romano* relies heavily on recycled portraits year after year, with 12 total images featured per edition. Galizia told the AP he only knows one other model featured in the calendar, a French man who also has no ordination. Pazzi acknowledged that only around one-third of the models in the already-released 2027 edition are actual practicing priests, though he declined to share further details.

    Both Galizia and Pazzi push back against widespread descriptions of the project as a “sexy priest calendar,” framing it instead as a deliberate artistic exploration of the tension between the sacred and the secular. Galizia argues that modern audiences too often conflate beauty with sensuality in an overly sexualized cultural landscape, noting that the project follows a long tradition of actors and models portraying clergy in film and television without deception. “Of course, it winks a bit at the dynamic between the sacred and the profane, because it is clear that seeing a world that is distant and in some ways so lofty as the ecclesiastical world, with such a fresh-faced young man, creates a kind of dissonance,” he said. Still, he adds, he takes the “sexy” label as a compliment: “because managing to be sexy in a priest’s collar is no small feat.”

    The calendar has no official affiliation with the Vatican, which declined to comment for this story, and the project is produced entirely independent of the Holy See, though it does include a page of informational text about the Vatican for tourists. It retails for roughly 8 euros ($9.30) in souvenir shops clustered around Vatican City and Rome’s historic center, where one shop clerk told the AP it sells a handful of copies per day, with total annual sales estimated in the thousands. Pazzi collects royalties for the work, while Galizia — who signed a release form for his photo decades ago — has never sought or received payment for his repeatedly used portrait.

    Surprisingly, the project has earned the casual approval of at least one working priest. Father Domenico, a South Korean priest visiting near the Vatican this week, told the AP the calendar is already well known among young people in his home country, who embrace it as lighthearted humor. “They often think priests are stiff and distant,” he explained. “But looking at this calendar, they think priests are more familiar, and priests can be funny. I think in Korea this calendar is very famous, and it is OK.”

    For Galizia, the sudden national attention decades after his accidental modeling gig remains just another unexpected joke. The only time his connection to the calendar ever came up before this week was when his cousins gifted a copy to their grandmother, and the whole family spent the moment “dying laughing.” He has never even been recognized on the street for his most famous portrait — until now.

  • Irish foreign minister slams treatment of detainees by Israel

    Irish foreign minister slams treatment of detainees by Israel

    A major international diplomatic row has erupted following Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a mission carrying symbolic aid to blockaded Gaza that ended with dozens of activists detained, including more than a dozen Irish citizens. The crisis intensified after Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shared a video of himself confronting the bound detainees, triggering condemnation from world leaders and even rare public criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    The video, posted to Ben-Gvir’s social media account, shows activists kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) confirmed that Irish citizen Catriona Graham, one of the detainees, can be heard shouting “free Palestine” at the opening of the footage. Ben-Gvir is seen waving an Israeli flag while taunting the captured activists, a gesture that has drawn widespread global rebuke.

    In an unusual break from his normally coalition-aligned position, Netanyahu publicly criticized Ben-Gvir’s conduct, saying the minister’s actions were “not in line with Israel’s values.” The prime minister added that he has ordered relevant government bodies to speed up deportation proceedings for all detained activists, framing them as “provocateurs.”

    Irish officials have led international calls for the immediate release of all detainees. Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee confirmed that Ireland’s ambassador to Israel has already secured formal demands for guarantees that all Irish citizens in detention will have access to consular support and their welfare protected. “I have also demanded their immediate release,” McEntee said. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, went further, saying he was “appalled at the shocking behaviour” of Ben-Gvir, adding that the Israeli government’s actions in intercepting the flotilla and detaining activists amount to a breach of international law. Martin announced he plans to raise the incident at the European Union level to coordinate a broader bloc response.

    Among the 12 detained Irish citizens is Dr. Margaret Connolly, sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. In total, 430 participants from more than 40 countries joined the GSF mission, which departed Turkey last Thursday with over 50 boats. The flotilla carried only a token amount of humanitarian aid, with its core goal being to draw global attention to the catastrophic living conditions facing Palestinian civilians in war-ravaged Gaza, which has been under heavy Israeli military bombardment and blockade since the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks. Israeli officials have dismissed the mission as a “PR stunt at the service of Hamas.”

    The fallout from the incident has spread far beyond Israel and Ireland, with multiple world leaders condemning the treatment of detainees. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the activists’ treatment “intolerable,” noting that multiple Italian citizens are among the detained, and said the actions violate basic human dignity. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot expressed France’s “indignation” at Ben-Gvir’s conduct and demanded a formal explanation from Israeli authorities. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand described the video footage as “deeply troubling.”

    Domestic criticism of Ben-Gvir has also emerged in Israel. Former Israeli minister Alan Shatter, who currently sits on the board of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, called for Ben-Gvir to be “unceremoniously dismissed from Israel’s cabinet and ministerial office.” Israeli legal rights group Adalah confirmed Wednesday that all activists were being held at Ashdod port after being brought into Israeli territory “entirely against their will.” The group announced its legal team would file challenges to the detentions in court and push for the immediate release of all flotilla participants. A GSF spokesperson has also joined international calls demanding the immediate release of all detained crew members.

  • Whale to be removed from Danish island after failed German rescue

    Whale to be removed from Danish island after failed German rescue

    A months-long high-profile rescue effort for a stranded humpback whale has come to a somber end, with the animal’s decomposing carcass now washing ashore on Denmark’s Anholt Island — leaving local officials scrambling to plan a safe removal while the small coastal community navigates unexpected public attention and public health risks.

    The story of the whale, which captured widespread public interest across Germany after it first became stranded on the Baltic Sea coast in early March, began when the mammal got tangled in fishing gear near Lübeck Bay. First spotted stuck at Timmendorfer Beach — the location that gave the whale its popular media nicknames, “Timmy” and “Hope” — the weak animal managed to swim further east along the German coast before becoming re-stranded off the island of Poel weeks later.

    Two private German entrepreneurs launched a private rescue bid to save the humpback, moving the animal onto a barge in late April to ferry it out to open water. The team released the whale into the North Sea roughly 70 kilometers from Denmark’s northern tip, far from the Kattegat Strait where it ultimately washed up. German wildlife experts had warned from the start that the whale was severely underweight and unlikely to survive, and authorities had already abandoned hope of the animal’s survival by early April.

    Last weekend, just two weeks after that attempted rescue release, the whale’s carcass was discovered beached just a few meters off Anholt’s coastline. Environmental officials confirmed the body was indeed the rescued humpback after locating a GPS tracking tag that had been attached to the animal during the rescue operation. To this day, it remains unclear how the dead whale drifted from its release location off northern Denmark to Anholt, off the East Jutland coast.

    As decomposition progresses, the carcass has swollen with trapped built-up gas, sparking public fears that the massive animal could explode. Danish environmental officials have announced plans to remove the carcass from the island, while also warning local residents to stay far away from the remains to avoid potential infection risks. No official timeline or detailed plan for the removal has been released as of Wednesday, with the agency only confirming it is working on a strategy that will allow for a full post-mortem examination and the collection of valuable tissue samples for scientific research.

    Local reactions to the beached carcass have been mixed. One anonymous Anholt resident, speaking to reporters, noted the body is currently 20 to 30 meters from the shore and continues to drift along the beach, adding that while some locals are unnerved by the risk of an explosion, she sees it as a natural process and holds no personal fears. Many islanders have also expressed bemusement at the ongoing international attention the dead whale has drawn, with curious German tourists already traveling to the small island to catch a glimpse of the animal and follow new developments in the saga.

  • Russian jets ‘dangerously’ intercept RAF spy plane over Black Sea

    Russian jets ‘dangerously’ intercept RAF spy plane over Black Sea

    In an incident that marks the most aggressive Russian aerial action against a British military aircraft since 2022, two Russian fighter jets carried out repeated, high-risk intercepts of an unarmed Royal Air Force (RAF) surveillance plane over the Black Sea last month, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.

    The close-proximity encounters forced the RAF RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft into a dangerous situation: one Russian Su-35 fighter closed in so rapidly that it triggered the spy plane’s onboard emergency safety systems and forced its autopilot to disengage, leaving the crew to manually regain control of the aircraft. A second Russian jet, a Su-27, conducted six separate low-altitude passes directly in front of the RAF aircraft, coming within just six meters (19 feet) of the plane’s nose.

    UK Defence Secretary John Healey has publicly condemned the intercepts as “unacceptable”, while praising the RAF crew for what he called their “outstanding professionalism” in navigating the life-threatening encounter without incident. The MoD emphasized that this encounter represents the gravest escalation in Russian aerial aggression against NATO-aligned aircraft in the Black Sea region since September 2022, when a Russian pilot fired two air-to-air missiles at an RAF Rivet Joint operating in the same international airspace.

    Officials confirmed that the RAF spy plane was carrying out a routine, pre-planned international flight when the interception occurred, as part of NATO’s ongoing mission to reinforce security along the alliance’s eastern flank. Healey stressed that the reckless actions of the Russian pilots created a clear and unnecessary risk of catastrophic aerial accident, with the potential to rapidly escalate tensions between Russia and the NATO alliance.

    “This incident is another example of dangerous and unacceptable behaviour by Russian pilots, towards an unarmed aircraft operating in international airspace,” Healey said in a statement. “These actions create a serious risk of accidents and potential escalation. This incident will not deter the UK’s commitment to defend Nato, our allies and our interests from Russian aggression.”

    Both the MoD and the UK Foreign Office have formally contacted the Russian embassy in London to protest the encounter and demand condemnation of the pilots’ actions. The MoD noted that the intercept comes amid a broader pattern of growing Russian aggression near critical European infrastructure, pointing to recent increased Russian submarine activity around undersea British energy and communications cables in the North Sea.

    The 2022 missile incident, which Russia initially tried to blame on an accidental technical malfunction, has since been confirmed by three senior Western defence sources to have been a deliberate, if misordered, attack. The sources told the BBC that the Russian pilot launched the two missiles after receiving an unclear command from a Russian ground control station; the first missile missed the RAF aircraft, contradicting Moscow’s original claims of a system malfunction. At the time, the UK publicly accepted Russia’s explanation to avoid immediate escalation.

    The RAF’s RC-135W Rivet Joint, operated by the service’s No. 51 Squadron from its base in Lincolnshire, is a specialized signals intelligence platform. According to RAF official documentation, the aircraft is fitted with cutting-edge sensor technology designed to intercept and analyze electromagnetic signals across a wide spectrum, delivering real-time strategic and tactical intelligence to NATO and UK military command.

  • Murder or accident? Mystery of Mango tycoon’s hiking death after son’s arrest

    Murder or accident? Mystery of Mango tycoon’s hiking death after son’s arrest

    A high-profile legal saga that has captured public attention across Spain took a dramatic new turn this week, when 45-year-old Jonathan Andic, eldest son of deceased Mango fashion empire founder Isak Andic, was arrested on suspicion of premeditated involvement in his father’s 2024 death. After a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to reclassify Isak’s death as non-accidental, Jonathan was taken into custody, and subsequently released after posting €1 million ($1.07 million) in bail. He has repeatedly and vehemently maintained his innocence throughout the ongoing investigation.

    Isak Andic, a 71-year-old retail titan who built Mango into one of Europe’s largest clothing brands, died on December 14, 2024, after falling roughly 150 meters from a cliff in the Montserrat Natural Park, a popular mountainous region north of Barcelona. The founder was hiking at the time alongside Jonathan, who placed the emergency call that led to the recovery of his father’s body. Initially, responding authorities ruled the incident a tragic accident, marking a sudden end to the life of one of Spain’s wealthiest individuals.

    According to case documents from the Martorell court near Barcelona, investigators have uncovered multiple inconsistencies and suspicious details that undermine Jonathan’s account of the incident. Jonathan told police he had been walking ahead of his father when he heard falling rock debris, then turned to see Isak plummet from the path. However, forensic analysis has raised significant doubts about this narrative: the rugged, lightly trafficked hiking route near Collbató’s caves is a relatively gentle trail common for family and student outings, and investigators argue an accidental slip matching Jonathan’s description would be highly unlikely in that exact location.

    Further inconsistencies have emerged in key details of Jonathan’s testimony. The footprint he marked as the spot of his father’s slip does not match the marks that would be left by someone losing their footing accidentally. The position of Isak’s body and the pattern of his injuries also contradict the profile of an accidental fall, with the forensic report noting the arrangement looked “as if he had launched himself down a slide, feet first.” Investigators have also flagged conflicting accounts from Jonathan about his own position at the time of the fall: he claimed at different times that he was walking far ahead of Isak and that the two were close together. An additional discrepancy surrounds Isak’s phone: Jonathan told officers his father had been taking photos with the device moments before the fall, but the phone was found undisturbed in Isak’s pocket when the body was recovered.

    Suspicion has also fallen on three pre-hike visits Jonathan made to the cliffside site on December 7, 8, and 10, just days before the incident. The investigating judge has described these trips as evidence of “planning and study of the site.” Compounding these questions is the disappearance of Jonathan’s personal phone around the time the case was reopened for further investigation. Jonathan told police the device was stolen during a short trip to Ecuador, a detail that has not resolved investigators’ concerns.

    Prosecutors are also exploring a potential financial motive tied to the future of the Mango brand. Isak Andic, a Turkish-born Sephardic Jew who relocated to Catalonia as a teenager and co-founded Mango in the mid-1980s, grew the company into a global retail giant that employs more than 16,000 workers and posted €3.3 billion in turnover in 2024, making him Catalonia’s wealthiest individual. Jonathan worked closely with the brand for 20 years, leading the expansion of its popular menswear line, and he currently shares control of a family holding company that owns a 95% stake in Mango alongside his two younger sisters. He is married to social media influencer Paula Nata, and the couple welcomed their first child in September 2025.

    According to the investigating magistrate, tensions emerged between father and son over Isak’s plan to establish a charitable foundation, and text message exchanges between the two confirm these frictions. The judge claims Jonathan engaged in “emotional manipulation over his father in order to achieve his economic objectives” and had repeatedly expressed “feelings of hatred, resentment, ideas related to death and blame” toward Isak. Jonathan has pushed back against these claims, telling investigators he maintained a warm, positive relationship with his father up until his death.

    In the months after Isak’s death, the case was reopened in October 2025, and investigators have since questioned Jonathan’s two sisters and his uncle as part of their inquiry. Executors of Isak’s will released an early statement defending Jonathan, arguing that the public scrutiny surrounding the case has compounded the family’s private grief. Following his arrest this week, the entire Andic family issued a formal statement of support, insisting “there does not exist, nor will there exist, legitimate evidence against him.” Jonathan’s defense attorney, Cristóbal Martell, has dismissed the homicide theory entirely, calling it baseless and deeply harmful to an innocent man. “The homicide theory does not hold up,” Martell said. “But, above all, it is painful. It stigmatises an innocent man.”

  • ‘Minotaur,’ about murder and corruption in Putin’s Russia, jolts the Cannes Film Festival

    ‘Minotaur,’ about murder and corruption in Putin’s Russia, jolts the Cannes Film Festival

    CANNES, France — One of the most anticipated premieres at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival landed with seismic impact this week, as exiled Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev unveiled *Minotaur*, a searing crime drama that weaves a intimate family story into a damning indictment of corruption and political violence under Vladimir Putin’s regime amid the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Long a favorite of the Cannes program after two previous critically celebrated Jury Prize-winning entries, Zvyagintsev’s new feature received a rapturous reception from festival audiences following its Tuesday night debut, immediately catapulting the director into top contender status for this year’s Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor.

    On its surface, *Minotaur* centers on a tumultuous marriage: Dmitriy Mazurov stars as the head of a major Russian shipping firm, who in early 2022, as the Kremlin launches its full-scale mobilization for the war in Ukraine, is ordered to supply 150 of his employees to meet a state conscription quota. Parallel to this political pressure, he launches a private investigation into his wife’s suspected infidelity, with the role played by Iris Lebedeva. As the narrative unfolds, the couple’s crumbling domestic conflict expands into a broader, dark metaphor for the systemic deception and brutality of Putin’s war campaign.

    The premiere marks a major personal and professional milestone for Zvyagintsev, whose career has been defined by quiet but unmistakeable critique of the Russian government. His 2014 feature *Leviathan* and 2017 follow-up *Loveless* both earned Academy Award nominations for Best International Feature Film, and drew sharp condemnation from Russian cultural authorities for their implicit criticism of state power. A 2020 battle with severe COVID-19 left Zvyagintsev in an induced coma for 40 days; he recovered in a German clinic, where he had to re-learn basic motor skills from walking to holding eating utensils. By 2022, still recovering and using a wheelchair, he relocated his family to Paris, making *Minotaur* his first feature produced entirely outside of Russia, with principal photography completed in neighboring Latvia.

    Speaking to reporters at a press conference Wednesday, Zvyagintsev called his return to Cannes “one of the greatest things that’s happened to me over these last nine years. Coming back after such a lengthy absence to the Cannes Film Festival is an absolutely incomparable event.”

    Addressing the unmissable political undercurrents of his new work, the filmmaker noted that the current context of his home country made telling this story a moral necessity. “It was important for me to make this film given the current Russian context,” he said. “It was a perfect pretext to say some important things.”

    Though he left Russia six years ago, Zvyagintsev said he retains a deep understanding of daily life and institutional decay within the country. “I perhaps lost a link when I left Russia six years ago, but I know what I’m talking about,” he explained. “I know how the people think, how they react, how they go about things. I know a lot about corruption, too, which has developed in the country.”

    Staying true to his signature cinematic style, Zvyagintsev wove political commentary into intimate domestic drama rather than leaning into overt sloganeering. “I didn’t want to make the most of the politics because that would discredit what you hear,” he said. “It was better to indulge in silence and rely on gestures.”

    The core framework of *Minotaur* draws loose inspiration from Claude Chabrol’s 1969 classic *The Unfaithful Wife*, with Zvyagintsev first developing the project years before Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. But as the war unfolded while he recovered from his illness, the story gradually shifted to absorb the geopolitical upheaval — a narrative choice that aligns with his past filmography, where personal stories often double as reflections of broader societal dysfunction.

    “There’s nothing more interesting than studying a couple,” Zvyagintsev said of his creative choice. “Each member of a couple have to make choices, choices which call the relationship in the family into question. A family is like a battlefield.”

    For festival attendees and critics, *Minotaur* has already emerged as one of the most talked-about entries of this year’s Cannes lineup, blending Zvyagintsev’s characteristic restrained, atmospheric storytelling with unflinching political urgency.

  • Up to 350 jobs under threat at Meta in Ireland

    Up to 350 jobs under threat at Meta in Ireland

    Tech conglomerate Meta, the parent company of major social platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is poised to cut hundreds of roles in Ireland as part of a sweeping global workforce restructuring driven by massive artificial intelligence investment. Approximately 350 positions based in the country are now at risk of redundancy, according to official filings and local media reports. Last month, Meta first announced to its global staff via internal memo that it would eliminate 10% of its total workforce – equaling around 8,000 employees worldwide – while also freezing hiring for thousands of additional unfilled roles across the company. Irish public broadcaster RTÉ confirmed that local staff received early-morning notifications alerting them to their potential inclusion in the latest round of cuts. The company has formally filed a collective redundancy notification with Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, confirming the scope of the proposed job cuts for the region. Meta currently employs roughly 1,800 workers across its Irish operations, and the company has not yet issued additional public comment beyond the formal notification filing. Industry sources familiar with the company’s internal planning have confirmed that the core driver behind the latest layoffs is Meta’s push to redirect massive budgets toward AI research and development. The tech giant has earmarked a total of $135 billion (around £100 billion) for AI-related spending this year alone – a sum that matches the total amount Meta invested in the sector over the previous three years combined, according to an individual who reviewed the company’s internal memo. This latest round of job cuts marks a return to large-scale restructuring for Meta, which carried out multiple waves of layoffs starting in 2022 that eliminated tens of thousands of roles globally. After those initial cuts, the company resumed hiring activity through 2024, bringing its total headcount back to pre-layoff levels by the end of last year. The 2026 cuts are the largest single round of layoffs Meta has implemented since 2023, and align with a broader industry trend among major technology firms. Dozens of other leading tech companies that are pouring billions of dollars into developing AI tools and infrastructure have also announced widespread job cuts in 2026, as companies reorient their business models and spending priorities to prioritize AI development over traditional operational headcount.