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  • Russian attacks kill 4 in Kyiv and surrounding region as air defenses fall short

    Russian attacks kill 4 in Kyiv and surrounding region as air defenses fall short

    Four civilians, including a three-year-old child, have been killed in a fresh wave of Russian aerial assaults targeting Kyiv and its surrounding regions, Ukrainian local officials confirmed Saturday, as Ukrainian forces carried out another strike on a Russian oil refinery deep inside Russian territory. The deadly attack comes as Ukraine grapples with mounting pressure from relentless Russian barrages, worsened by critical gaps in its air defense capabilities that have left civilian populations increasingly exposed three and a half years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

    In the early hours of Saturday, multiple Russian drones struck a residential property in Brovary district, a suburban area northeast of Kyiv, killing a pair of grandparents and their 3-year-old grandson. Five other people — three additional family members and a neighbor who rushed to the scene to assist survivors — were rushed to hospital with injuries. Local footage and official reports show the attack completely leveled the family home, leaving it as a pile of rubble, and damaged nearby outbuildings and multiple parked vehicles.

    Inside Kyiv city proper, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed one additional fatality in a separate strike that saw Russia launch six ballistic missiles targeting civilian infrastructure across the capital. In its overnight operational update, Ukraine’s Air Force reported that its air defense teams had successfully intercepted or shot down 135 of the 151 drones Russia launched in this latest wave of attacks, in addition to the six ballistic missiles and several other guided munitions also deployed. Russia has repeatedly denied intentionally targeting civilian populations and infrastructure, despite consistent patterns of strikes hitting residential areas, medical facilities and public utilities across Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

    Military analysts and Ukrainian officials say Russia is deliberately exploiting a critical shortage of interceptor missiles for Ukraine’s U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of shooting down incoming Russian ballistic missiles. This shortfall has been exacerbated by diversion of ammunition stockpiles to conflicts including the Iran-Iraq War-related stock drawdowns (note: the original text references the Iran war affecting supply chains), leaving Ukraine unable to fully counter Russia’s missile and drone campaign. Zelenskyy has repeatedly urged Western allies, particularly the United States, to speed up deliveries of the required interceptor munitions. In alternative proposals, Ukraine has also sought to either begin domestic production of Patriot interceptor missiles, or secure approval from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications network to guide Ukrainian strikes against Russian missile launch sites inside Russian territory.

    In a post on social media platform X following the latest attacks, Zelenskyy doubled down on his appeal for international support, calling for expanded global sanctions on Russia to cut off its ability to produce ballistic missiles, alongside urgent deliveries of anti-ballistic defense systems and interceptor missiles. A day before the attacks, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense released data showing that Ukrainian air defenses had shot down or intercepted around 5,300 of the roughly 9,000 drones and missiles Russia launched against Ukrainian targets in the preceding month, putting the overall interception rate just below 60 percent.

    In a reciprocal strike inside Russia, local officials in the southern Krasnodar region reported that five people were wounded when falling drone debris sparked a large fire at the Ilsky Oil Refinery over the weekend. For months, Ukraine has carried out almost daily long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure using domestically produced weapons, battering a string of oil processing facilities across the country. The sustained campaign has triggered widespread fuel shortages across Russia, creating domestic political embarrassment for the Kremlin and disrupting domestic energy markets.

    The weekend’s violence unfolded just hours after Zelenskyy arrived in Serbia Friday for his first official visit to the country, one of the few European states that has maintained open, friendly relations with Russia despite the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Important talks are scheduled for today and tomorrow,” Zelenskyy told reporters ahead of his meetings with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Đuro Macut. “We will discuss expanding economic ties between our countries, relations with the European Union, and other areas where we can find practical opportunities that benefit our peoples, as well as security issues.”

    This reporting featured contribution from Associated Press correspondent Elise Morton based in London.

  • High divers take the plunge in the Seine in a new test of Paris’ reclaimed river

    High divers take the plunge in the Seine in a new test of Paris’ reclaimed river

    PARIS — On the banks of the Seine, with the iconic Eiffel Tower looming in the background, Paris has made history this week hosting its first ever high-diving competition on the iconic river. Athletes launched themselves from a 20-meter platform anchored to the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, turning the waterway into a world-class sporting venue and marking a key milestone in the city’s years-long campaign to reclaim the Seine for public recreation after a century of swimming bans.

    The event, part of the 2026 European Aquatics Championships, highlighted both the progress and remaining challenges of Paris’ water cleanup initiative. Last Thursday, a sudden disruption halted training operations when testing detected unexpected traces of hydrocarbons in an upstream section of the river. The incident, which exposed the lingering uncertainty of holding major sporting events in an outdoor natural environment, was quickly resolved by Friday: the French Swimming Federation confirmed the contaminated area had been fully treated, clearing the way for athletes to return to the water and the competition to proceed on its original schedule. The high-diving tournament is set to conclude Saturday with medal-deciding final rounds, while the broader European Aquatics Championships, which mark the centenary of the inaugural event first held in Budapest in 1926, will run through August 16. This is the first time Paris has hosted the championships since 1931, bringing more than 1,000 elite athletes to compete across five aquatics disciplines, with the Seine playing host to both open-water swimming and high diving.

    For Paris officials, the event is more than a sporting competition: it is a public demonstration of the massive investments put in place ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games to reverse decades of river pollution. Upgrades to sewage infrastructure to prevent untreated waste from flowing directly into the Seine, alongside overhauls to stormwater management systems, formed the core of a 1.4 billion euro project that lifted the 100-year public swimming ban in 2025.

    “There are things that are within our control, and there are uncertainties that are inevitably linked to any outdoor activity,” explained Maxime Sauvage, Paris’ deputy mayor in charge of sports, facilities and equitable access to recreation. “There is always a small risk, but that is also part of what makes outdoor events special. When they work, it is magical.”

    Hundreds of spectators flocked to the Seine’s banks on Friday to watch the competition, many of whom stumbled on the event spontaneously while sightseeing along the river. Among the accidental audience was Rebecca Kapogiannis, a 45-year-old tourist from London, Ontario, who was in Paris celebrating her daughter’s college graduation. Kapogiannis said her daughter had even packed a bathing suit ahead of the trip, holding out hope for a chance to swim in the iconic river.

    “We just headed down to the Eiffel Tower today and thought we would walk along the Seine and stumbled upon this and thought it was a really cool activity to watch,” Kapogiannis told the Associated Press. “I was not expecting a competition to take place in the Seine, but I think it’s such a cool use of this water that runs right through the city.”

    Cynthia Matz, another tourist visiting with her husband, echoed that sentiment, noting the iconic riverside setting made the event far more accessible and appealing than it would have been in an indoor aquatics center. “Anybody can go. I don’t have to know anything about diving. I can just say, ‘This is really cool to see,’” Matz said. “Having it out in public, people will just stop and go, ‘Huh, what’s going on?’ and stop and spend some time and enjoy it.”

    That spontaneous access to elite sport in the heart of the city is exactly the transformation Paris officials have worked for decades to achieve. For more than a century after the 1923 swimming ban, the Seine was primarily associated with commercial shipping, tourist cruises and industrial logistics, long written off as too polluted for public recreation. For generations of Parisians, the 1988 pledge by then-Paris mayor Jacques Chirac to restore the Seine to swimmable condition seemed like an impossible, distant dream.

    But two years after the 2024 Olympics, that vision is steadily becoming reality. Images of elite athletes competing on the river have already been joined by everyday Parisians swimming in designated public zones, with official data from Paris City Hall showing roughly 70,000 people used the city’s official Seine swimming areas in July alone, putting 2026 on track to surpass last summer’s total of 100,000 users. Growing public participation underscores rising enthusiasm for the project to reimagine the river as a space for recreation, not just commerce and tourism.

    “For decades, the Seine was limited to economic purposes, tourism with sightseeing boats, and logistics with ships loading and unloading goods in Paris,” Sauvage said. “It was a river with high levels of pollution that also had a significant impact on its biodiversity.” Today, the city’s goal is to add a new recreational identity to the Seine without eliminating its existing economic and cultural roles, he explained. “Paris is not just a postcard image, it is also a magnificent sporting venue,” Sauvage said. “It is a city that people come to visit, but it is also a city to be experienced by bike, through running, through sport, through play and through swimming.”

  • Child among three killed in Russian missile attacks near Kyiv

    Child among three killed in Russian missile attacks near Kyiv

    A new wave of overnight Russian ballistic missile strikes targeting areas near Kyiv has left at least three people dead — one of them a child — and three more wounded, marking a sharp escalation of hostilities just days after a broader series of attacks across Ukraine claimed 21 lives.

    The attacks, which unfolded in the early hours of Saturday, targeted locations east of Ukraine’s capital, with residents reporting deafening, powerful explosions across the region. Falling missile debris damaged multiple residential apartment blocks and parked civilian vehicles, and ignited a separate blaze at a commercial structure, according to Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s regional military administration.

    Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed via Telegram that emergency response teams were working to contain two large fires: one at a multi-story building and another at a fuel storage facility within the city limits. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS) published on-the-ground images showing raging fires at garages, a local business, and a residential outbuilding in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, noting that the full count of casualties is still undergoing verification.

    The attack comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky touched down in Belgrade for his first official visit to Serbia, a trip scheduled amid growing Ukrainian warnings that dwindling stocks of anti-missile interceptors have severely weakened the country’s ability to fend off Russian air assaults. Zelensky has made it a priority to build broader international support for Ukraine’s defensive efforts, but the trip faces inherent diplomatic friction: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has repeatedly refused to join international sanctions against Russia, despite Serbia’s ongoing bid to earn membership in the European Union. The Balkan country has provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine and pledged to support post-war reconstruction efforts, and Friday’s scheduled talks between the two leaders were expected to cover bilateral economic ties, Serbia’s EU accession process, and regional and global security issues.

    In comments earlier this week, Zelensky highlighted the human cost of delayed arms supplies from Western and international partners. He stated that holdups in deliveries of anti-ballistic defense systems have directly led to “horrific casualties and widespread destruction,” emphasizing that expanded interceptor capabilities “could have saved countless lives” during recent deadly Russian strikes. He added that the volume of interceptor supplies from allied nations has dropped “significantly” throughout 2024, leaving critical gaps in Ukraine’s air defense network.

    The latest exchange of hostilities follows a series of targeted Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory earlier this month, which hit two major Russian oil refineries and destroyed several Moscow-linked commercial vessels operating in the Black Sea. Zelensky confirmed the strikes were a deliberate strategy to reduce the oil revenues that Russia relies on to fund its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Recent diplomatic mediation efforts aimed at de-escalating the 2.5-year conflict have stalled, creating a vacuum that has paved the way for a sharp uptick in offensive attacks from both Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent weeks.

  • ‘I ran because I knew I would die’: Russian drones target medics in Ukraine

    ‘I ran because I knew I would die’: Russian drones target medics in Ukraine

    In the embattled southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, paramedic Inna Lytvynenko has become the face of a disturbing new reality of Russia’s full-scale invasion: deliberate hunting of medical first responders by unmanned drones. The veteran emergency worker never responds to a call without donning her high-visibility orange body armor, a precaution that proved life-saving last June when she was dispatched to treat a woman wounded in an earlier Russian drone strike.

    Moments after Lytvynenko arrived on scene, an FPV (first-person view) drone crashed directly into her marked ambulance. As she scrambled to escape, she caught the distinct buzzing of a second incoming drone, locked on a direct course for her. “I panicked. I grabbed my trauma bag and started running,” Lytvynenko recalled of the 10-minute pursuit that left her running for her life. “I shouted and screamed. I knew that if I stopped, I would die.” The drone eventually broke off its chase, and Lytvynenko was extracted by local police – but the coordinated attacks on the rescue mission did not end there. Two more vehicles arriving to evacuate the wounded woman were hit by drones, and it took hours before a third police vehicle could successfully pull the injured civilian to safety.

    Lytvynenko’s harrowing experience, which she describes as “safari hunting” of medical workers, is not an isolated incident. Data from global health and humanitarian organizations confirms a steady, alarming escalation of deliberate attacks on Ukrainian healthcare infrastructure and personnel that violates core international humanitarian law laid out in the Geneva Conventions, which require all warring parties to protect hospitals, ambulances, and medical teams.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has documented 3,118 attacks on healthcare facilities and workers across Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 – an average of two attacks per day. The trend of targeting has accelerated sharply in recent years: attacks rose by 30% in 2024, followed by a further 20% increase in 2025, and WHO officials project this upward trajectory will continue through 2026. “This is a new normality, which should not be the normality,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO’s representative in Ukraine.

    A new report from Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) concludes that these attacks are not accidental side effects of large-scale combat operations, but a systematic, deliberate strategy. The frequency of strikes confirms that targeting healthcare is “a sustained feature of the war rather than an episodic consequence of large scale offensives,” the report found.

    Just last month, three Russian missiles struck a Kherson hospital within minutes of each other, killing one doctor and leaving the facility severely damaged. Hospital director Olena Tymoshenko said the coordinated strike leaves no doubt it was intentional: “It cannot be an accident.”

    Moscow’s forces frequently employ a tactic called “double-tap”, where they strike the same location twice in quick succession, with the second strike deliberately targeting first responders who arrive to rescue survivors of the initial attack. In a recent large-scale air assault on Kyiv, seven people – including a police officer and a rescue volunteer – were killed in a second strike on an already targeted site. Most recently, Russian air strikes have also expanded to target humanitarian aid warehouses: last month alone, facilities belonging to three United Nations agencies, including the WHO, were damaged in strikes. Habicht noted that the WHO shares the exact coordinates of all its facilities with both Moscow and Kyiv specifically to prevent accidental strikes, making the damage even more alarming.

    While large missile strikes can sometimes be indiscriminate, FPV drone strikes are almost always intentional. These small, maneuverable drones transmit a live video feed directly to their operators on the ground, meaning the pilot can clearly see what target they are attacking. “When it hits an ambulance, it has to be on purpose,” explained Robin Meldrum, MSF’s country coordinator in Ukraine.

    Lytvynenko echoed that assessment, noting she was wearing a clearly marked medical uniform, and her ambulance bore standard medical identification that would have been visible to the drone operator. WHO data shows that 20% of all attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare system target ambulances, a statistic that confirms this is part of a pre-planned strategy to erode access to care for frontline civilians.

    The human cost of this sustained campaign is already devastating. Civilians living in areas near the front line – most of whom are elderly residents with chronic health conditions who could not evacuate – have been increasingly cut off from even basic health services. Even if they survive routine shelling and air strikes, lack of access to medication and routine care leaves many vulnerable to preventable death. Ambulance teams now face impossible choices: risk being targeted to reach a patient, or leave the injured and ill without care.

    For medics like Lytvynenko, every mission is now a matter of life and death. She and her colleagues constantly monitor social media for incoming threat reports, and pray for safety on every call. “These drones can appear from anywhere, they can even get through anti-drone nets,” she said. In many high-risk areas, police are now sent instead of ambulances to avoid losing medical personnel.

    As both Russian and Ukrainian forces develop longer-range FPV drones, the high-risk danger zone for medical operations has expanded steadily, forcing humanitarian health groups to move their mobile clinics further and further back from the front line. “Two years ago, we could go up to 5-8km from the frontline,” Meldrum said. “Now we won’t go anywhere within 30km and this distance keeps growing.”

    Over the past 18 months, MSF has suspended regular medical services in roughly 80 frontline villages that previously relied on its support, and recently paused ambulance operations in Sloviansk, a major eastern Ukrainian city. Following the most recent “safari” drone attack targeting medics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for greater international pressure on Russia to end the deliberate targeting of civilian first responders. For medical workers and humanitarian teams on the ground, the reality is clear: the fundamental rules of war designed to protect civilians and medical personnel are being ignored with devastating consequences. “It doesn’t feel like we’re protected in this environment, and in the way that Russia is conducting the war,” Meldrum said. “We don’t feel that the rules of war are being respected.”

  • Argentines pray that Pope Leo’s visit alleviates their economic stress

    Argentines pray that Pope Leo’s visit alleviates their economic stress

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – It has been nearly four decades since a sitting pope last set foot in Argentina, and the recent announcement of Pope Leo XIV’s November trip to the South American nation has been greeted by many of the country’s Catholics as a source of divine comfort at a moment of crippling economic uncertainty. Millions of Argentines have already been pushed into unsustainable debt by years of financial turmoil, a crisis exacerbated by the austerity policies pushed by libertarian President Javier Milei since he took office in December 2023.

    The Argentine Catholic Church has sounded repeated alarms over the rapid erosion of living standards for the country’s most marginalized communities, a direct outcome of Milei’s sharp government spending cuts. While the president’s policies have delivered tangible macroeconomic progress – bringing sky-high inflation down and shrinking the nation’s fiscal deficit – those gains have come at a steep social cost. Wages and pension payments have failed to keep pace with soaring prices, while basic costs from public transit and utility bills to rent and groceries have jumped sharply. For millions of households, taking on high-interest debt has become the only way to cover daily survival needs.

    For faithful Catholics gathered at Buenos Aires’ iconic Parish of Saint Cajetan, the patron saint of work, the pope’s visit carries more than symbolic weight. “I hope the Pope comes to help the poor like me,” shared 70-year-old retiree María Ruíz Díaz, who made her annual pilgrimage to the parish on August 7 as she has done for years. Dozens of devotees waited patiently to enter the sanctuary, with many echoing her hope that the papal visit will draw global attention to Argentina’s crisis and shift public conversation. Sixty-year-old Santiago Olave put it simply: “The country is going through a difficult time; there are many brothers and sisters in need. The Pope can open hearts and minds.”

    Milei has remained unapologetic in defending his austerity agenda, pushing back against growing criticism from church leaders and civil society groups. “I am not going to engage in populism,” he stated this week. “I am going to die with my boots on, doing what is right and doing what is proper. If you want populism, you have other alternatives.”

    To coincide with the announcement of the papal visit, leaders at the Parish of Saint Cajetan installed a new cardboard display next to the venerated image of the patron saint. The cutout depicts Pope Leo XIV standing alongside a group that reflects Argentina’s current crisis: an elderly retiree, a disabled woman in a wheelchair, an unhoused man and a public school teacher. Underneath the image reads the inscription: “Saint Cajetan, here are your people.”

    The figures represent the groups hit hardest by Milei’s budget cuts to public health, education and social support programs for vulnerable populations. Leading a public Mass on Friday, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge García Cuerva used the moment to explicitly push back against the government’s policy framework. “Saint Cajetan, here are your people, who refuse to accept that work is a commodity and that one must have two or more jobs to make ends meet, or fall into the trap of loans that indebt and suffocate so many families,” he told the assembled congregation. Echoing the church’s longstanding commitment to social justice, he added: “With Pope Leo XIV, we say that economic freedom cannot be absolute and must always be measured in terms of the common good and the dignity of each person.”

    Vatican officials have confirmed preliminary details of the papal tour, which will bring Pope Leo XIV to three South American nations: Argentina, Uruguay and Peru, from November 8 to 11. A full schedule of public and private activities has not yet been released to the public. During his time in Argentina, the pope will visit the national shrine of Our Lady of Lujan, the patron saint of Argentina, located in a western suburb of Buenos Aires, before traveling to the central province of Cordoba.

    The last pope to visit Argentina was John Paul II, who traveled to the country in April 1987. Notably, former Pope Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires, never returned to his native country after being elected to the papacy in 2013. This upcoming tour carries extra personal significance for Pope Leo XIV: the first U.S-born pope holds deep, longstanding ties to the region, having spent decades working as a missionary and church leader in Peru, where he served as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023 and holds formal citizenship.

  • Kidnapped rare Serbian eagle freed into wild after rescue

    Kidnapped rare Serbian eagle freed into wild after rescue

    A remarkable journey of conservation and cross-border cooperation has ended with the successful release of a rare, critically endangered eastern imperial eagle back into its natural habitat in Serbia, months after the bird was snatched by poachers in the Middle East.

    Named Feliks by conservationists, the young raptor fledged from its nest in Serbia in July 2025. As part of ongoing species recovery efforts, experts from the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (BPSSS) fitted the bird with a tracking device to monitor its migratory movements. When the young eagle began flying toward the Middle East, conservation teams immediately grew concerned about the risks it faced in the region, where illegal wildlife trafficking is pervasive.

    By October 2025, Feliks’ tracking signal cut out entirely. At first, teams assumed the issue was a faulty tracking device, but they soon made the grim discovery that the bird had been captured by poachers in Syria, who later attempted to sell the protected animal. Following weeks of silence, a partner wildlife organization in Lebanon reached out to BPSSS to confirm that Feliks’ captors were demanding a ransom for his safe return. Rejecting the demand outright to avoid fueling the illegal wildlife smuggling network, BPSSS entered into months of protracted negotiations to secure the eagle’s release without paying.

    According to reports from the Associated Press, the delicate handover saw refugees smuggle Feliks across the Nahr al-Kabir river, which forms the northern border between Syria and Lebanon, hidden inside a potato sack. Once in Lebanon, the bird was transferred to a specialized wildlife rehabilitation center in Beirut, where he received veterinary care and spent more than six months recovering from his captivity.

    In June 2026, Serbian peacekeepers deployed on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon arranged to repatriate Feliks back to Serbia aboard a military transport plane returning from the region. The bird arrived exhausted at Palic Zoo’s wildlife shelter in Serbia, where zookeepers and conservationists monitored his health daily for more than a month as he regained his strength ahead of release.

    The successful rescue of Feliks comes alongside major progress in the recovery of the eastern imperial eagle, a protected species classified as critically endangered. BPSSS data shows that targeted conservation efforts launched in 2017 have grown Serbia’s wild population from just a single breeding pair to 29 breeding pairs as of 2026, marking one of the most successful species recovery initiatives for the raptor in Europe.

    After completing his recovery, Feliks was officially released back into the wild on Thursday. Conservation leaders expressed hope that the young eagle will thrive, establish his own breeding territory, and contribute to the ongoing growth of Serbia’s recovering eastern imperial eagle population. In the coming weeks, experts will continue to closely monitor Feliks’ movements and behavior via his tracking device to ensure he readjusts successfully to life in the wild.

  • Motorcyclist dies in County Donegal crash

    Motorcyclist dies in County Donegal crash

    A fatal road traffic collision has claimed the life of a motorcyclist in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, leaving one person dead and another with minor injuries, Irish police have confirmed.

    The incident unfolded just after 4:30 PM local time on Friday along the N56 route at Termon, according to official updates from Gardaí, Ireland’s national police service. The victim, a male motorcyclist in his 60s, could not be saved and was pronounced dead immediately at the crash site. Following initial emergency protocols, his remains were transported to Letterkenny University Hospital, where a post-mortem examination is scheduled to determine the official cause of death in the coming days.

    The second person involved in the crash, a woman in her 30s who was driving the passenger car, was also taken to a local hospital for assessment and treatment. Gardaí confirmed her injuries are non-life threatening and classified as minor.

    To support a full and thorough investigation, the crash site was cordoned and preserved on Friday to allow specialist Garda Forensic Collision Investigators to conduct their forensic examination. Local traffic diversion plans were put in place throughout the investigation to manage travel through the area and prevent further disruption.

    As investigators work to piece together the full circumstances of the collision, Gardaí have launched a public appeal for information from anyone who may have witnessed the incident. Police are specifically asking any drivers who traveled along the stretch of the N56 between the Lagoon Restaurant & Guesthouse and Creeslough between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM on Friday to come forward, particularly those with dashcam footage that could provide critical evidence for the investigation.

  • Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham

    Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham

    On a historic Friday vote in Washington, the U.S. Senate delivered an overwhelming bipartisan endorsement of a sweeping new sanctions package targeting Russia, capping a year-long advocacy campaign led by the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to tighten U.S. backing for Ukraine amid its drawn-out defensive war against Russian invasion.

    Passing by a lopsided margin of 86-11, the legislation is crafted to cut off critical war funding for Russian President Vladimir Putin by penalizing nations that continue to purchase Russian oil, natural gas and other key exports. The vote carries deep personal and political resonance: just one week prior, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat in the Senate gallery to watch initial procedural votes on the bill, just hours after attending Graham’s funeral in Washington and holding bipartisan talks with U.S. senators. Graham, who had only just returned from a visit to Ukraine when he secured a final agreement on the legislation with the White House on July 10, died suddenly the next day from an aortic tear.

    Standing on the Senate floor ahead of the final vote, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — who co-led negotiations on the package with Graham — reflected on the moment. “Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine — and Putin is watching from Moscow,” Blumenthal said. “I would like to think Lindsey Graham is watching, too. Today we say to the people of Ukraine: You are not alone. And today we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine.”

    This broad show of Senate unity marks the most consequential shift in U.S. policy toward the three-year-plus war during President Donald Trump’s second term, a conflict that has now lasted longer than the entirety of World War I. For months, Congress had grappled with gridlock over sustaining U.S. funding and military supplies for Ukraine, but Trump has publicly backed the sanctions package, building pressure for the House of Representatives to bring the bill to a vote and send it to the White House for signing.

    Named in Graham’s honor, the bipartisan measure grants the president authority to impose tariffs on the world’s five largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas — a list that includes major emerging economies China and India. Exceptions are carved out for nations that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are actively working to cut their reliance on Russian energy exports. Beyond secondary penalties for third-party buyers, the package expands direct sanctions to target Putin, his top political and military allies, major Russian financial institutions, and key Russian energy infrastructure projects. It also closes a longstanding loophole in existing sanctions by cracking down on the aging, reflagged oil tankers Russia has used to evade export restrictions and keep its energy revenues flowing.

    The legislation includes built-in flexibility: it grants the president waiver authority to lift specific sanctions or restrictions if he formally certifies to Congress that such a move serves U.S. national interests. Still, the grant of new tariff authority to Trump sparked opposition from across the ideological spectrum, with progressive Democrats forming the core of the 11 “no” votes. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns that broad tariff power could drive up import prices, worsen ongoing inflation, and raise cost-of-living burdens for American households.

    Appointed by South Carolina’s governor to fill her late brother’s Senate seat, Republican Sen. Darline Graham reaffirmed her commitment to advancing his final policy priority. “This legislation hits Putin where it hurts,” she said in remarks on the floor.

    For Ukraine, the package carries both strategic and symbolic weight, Zelenskyy has said. During his closed-door meeting with senators last week, the Ukrainian leader noted that Kyiv’s forces have made incremental battlefield gains but continue to depend on sustained U.S. support. Publicly, he thanked the Senate for the vote, saying the package sends a “big signal” of American solidarity to Ukraine and its global allies.

    Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who attended the meeting with Zelenskyy, echoed that framing, calling the legislation “important as a moral signal to a country that is weary and tired, though holding its own.”

    Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the timing of the vote, ahead of Russia’s scheduled national elections. Advancing the package now, she argued, will increase pressure on Putin to enter serious negotiations toward a negotiated peace deal. She warned that every time the U.S. hesitates to take strong action against Russia, Moscow responds by ramping up its offensive attacks. “If we can’t shut down the funding for the war machine that Russia is using against Ukraine, then they’re going to keep at it,” Shaheen said.

    Criticism of the bill centered on the expanded tariff authority, with lawmakers from both parties arguing it grants too much unchecked power to the executive branch. The Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have stripped the new tariff authority from the bill. Paul argued the measure would impose unnecessary costs on U.S. taxpayers, while Wyden noted that many American households are already struggling with persistent economic strain. “We’ve got folks who are walking an economic tightrope here in America,” Wyden said.

    Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who had delayed consideration of the package over his concerns about tariff authority, secured a written guarantee from the Trump administration via U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that establishes clear guardrails for the use of tariffs. Under the commitment, tariffs will be lifted once a country is no longer listed as a major purchaser of Russian energy or a facilitator of sanctions evasion. “We should not have to choose between putting a check on Putin’s aggression and putting a check on this president’s tariffs regime,” Warnock said, adding that if Trump “oversteps his power, we will see him in court.”

    Many other Democrats who hold reservations about granting Trump new executive powers ultimately supported the bill, saying they would not risk undermining critical support for Ukraine. “Weighing that against the boost for Ukraine, I think it’s important to support Ukraine right now,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

    The sanctions package will now head to the House of Representatives, where Senate momentum is expected to push for a swift vote when lawmakers return from recess at the end of the month. The House already passed a separate Ukraine aid and Russian sanctions package in June, which included security assistance and reconstruction funding for Kyiv alongside penalties for key sectors of the Russian economy. That earlier measure drew bipartisan support despite objections from Republican leaders, who argued it undercut negotiations to produce a stronger, more unified piece of legislation.

  • Niewiadoma-Phinney wins Mont Ventoux stage to take overall lead on Women’s Tour de France

    Niewiadoma-Phinney wins Mont Ventoux stage to take overall lead on Women’s Tour de France

    On a sunbaked afternoon on one of professional cycling’s most legendary climbs, Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney delivered a career-defining performance Friday, attacking early up the brutal slopes of Mont Ventoux to secure her first-ever stage win at the Women’s Tour de France and leapfrog Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser to take the overall general classification lead with just two stages remaining in the 2024 race.

    Niewiadoma-Phinney, who claimed the overall 2024 Tour title earlier this year without winning a single individual stage, broke away from the leading group of contenders approximately nine kilometers from the barren, moon-like summit of the Hors Catégorie (highest difficulty) climb, which averages a near-9% gradient. 2023 Tour champion Demi Vollering and former leader Reusser could not match her blistering pace, as the Polish rider held off all chasers through a strong headwind in the final kilometers to cross the line first, arms raised in triumph.

    Exhausted from her all-out effort, Niewiadoma-Phinney nearly lost her balance after crossing the finish line and required assistance dismounting her bike. She later collapsed onto the roadside, pouring cold water over her head to cool down as she processed her breakthrough win, tears welling as she was fitted with the race’s coveted yellow overall leader jersey. She now holds a 15-second lead over second-place Vollering and a 39-second advantage over Reusser heading into the race’s final weekend.

    In a post-stage interview, Niewiadoma-Phinney shared that an unexpected encounter with her family midway up the climb gave her the extra push she needed to secure victory. “When I started climbing I looked to the right and I saw my parents standing on the roadside. They came today by surprise. I saw my father yelling for me and I thought I had to make him proud,” she said.

    The winner, who is married to former professional men’s Tour sprinter Taylor Phinney, also explained that a personal connection to Mont Ventoux fueled her ambition to win on the iconic climb. She recalled visiting the ascent in the off-season with her husband and friends, riding to the top three times just for the joy of the challenge. “From that moment, I just wanted to experience that feeling again. The pure joy of riding, as if I was a kid,” she added. “I never chase victories for the sake of winning, I target them because I like this beautiful feeling I have right now.”

    Vollering, the 2023 overall champion, put in a strong performance to finish second on the stage, dropping Reusser in the final kilometers of the 15.7-kilometer ascent to move into second place overall. Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy took third place on the stage, while former race leader Reusser, the reigning world time trial champion, crossed the line in fourth, ceding the yellow jersey after a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful defense.

    Mont Ventoux holds a unique place in Tour de France history, having been featured multiple times in the men’s race, and it carries somber historical context: it was on this climb that British rider Tom Simpson collapsed and died during the 1967 Tour, one of the darkest tragedies in the race’s history.

    With the race now moving into its final weekend, the general classification remains tightly contested. Saturday’s eighth stage is a flat 172-kilometer route tailored for sprinters, finishing in the coastal French city of Nice. Sunday will bring a decisive final mountain stage, featuring four sharp climbs up Col d’Èze, which overlooks Monaco. This is not the first time Niewiadoma-Phinney has entered the final stage with a narrow lead over Vollering: two years ago, she defeated Vollering on the final day to win the overall race by a margin of just four seconds, setting the stage for another dramatic finale to this year’s competition.

  • Spanish police arrest 78 people in bust of ‘one of largest’ smuggling networks

    Spanish police arrest 78 people in bust of ‘one of largest’ smuggling networks

    A sprawling criminal organisation responsible for large-scale drug and human trafficking across the western Mediterranean has been taken down by international law enforcement authorities, following a months-long coordinated investigation. The European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol announced that 78 suspects have been taken into custody during simultaneous raids carried out in both Spain and Algeria, with the criminal network linked to a wide range of additional illicit activity ranging from violent armed robbery and extortion to unlawful detainment and global money laundering operations.

    Unlike typical one-way smuggling rings, this enterprise developed a unique dual-trafficking model designed to maximise illegal profits, moving synthetic narcotics from Spain and Portugal into Algeria on outbound journeys, then using the same return routes to smuggle undocumented migrants and illegal weapons into mainland Spain and the popular tourist island of Ibiza. All cross-border maritime operations were carried out using unregistered, undetectable “ghost speedboats”, a class of high-powered watercraft banned under Spanish maritime law.

    In total, law enforcement teams seized 18 high-speed vessels with an estimated total value of €5 million (£4.2 million), an arsenal of unregistered firearms, more than €25,000 (£21,400) in untraceable cash, and over 15,000 MDMA pills. Additional seized items included satellite communication phones, GPS navigation devices, encrypted messaging tools and satellite communication dishes, all used by the network to avoid detection by border authorities.

    The operation was led by Spain’s national police force, which executed search warrants at 17 different locations across the country, spanning coastal regions including Alicante, Almería, Cartagena and Murcia. Europol officials detailed that the organisation began as a small drug trafficking ring before expanding into the dual-flow enterprise. On northbound routes from Algeria to Spain, the group charged as much as €12,000 (£10,200) per person to smuggle migrants, with a single voyage sometimes carrying more than 50 people at once. Europol estimates that the network generated more than €24 million (£20 million) in profit from migrant smuggling alone, and also offered smuggling coordination services to other organised crime groups moving illicit goods and people across the Western Mediterranean.

    Investigation records show the network ran multi-directional trafficking routes beyond the core Spain-Algeria corridor: synthetic drugs and occasionally migrants were moved from France and Spain into Algeria, while cannabis resin, weapons and additional migrants were transported north from Algeria to Spain. All transfers were coordinated in international waters just off the Spanish coast: after cargo or migrants were transferred at sea, land-based network cells handled overland transport to final destinations.

    The conditions the network forced migrants to endure were found to be inhumane and extremely dangerous. Migrants were packed into overcrowded vessels with no navigation lighting or life jackets, and often made crossings in severe, dangerous weather conditions. After arriving in Spain, suspects held migrants in unregulated makeshift housing, where investigators documented multiple cases of sexual assault, physical abuse and degrading treatment.

    Most of the arrested suspects are of Algerian origin, and investigators have confirmed the network maintained operational connections to other organised crime groups based in France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Poland.

    The announcement of the network’s dismantling comes just one week after a major mass migration incident at Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta, when roughly 78,000 migrants crossed into the territory following false online rumours that the border with Morocco would be opened temporarily. While most of the migrants have since returned to Morocco, Ceuta’s regional leader Juan Jesús Vivas confirmed that between 3,000 and 5,000 people remain in the territory, intensifying longstanding concerns over people smuggling operations in the western Mediterranean region.