Global Pulse

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  • Prague zoo keeps polar bears cool with ice cubes as European summer heatwave hits

    Prague zoo keeps polar bears cool with ice cubes as European summer heatwave hits

    As a record-breaking early heat wave bakes much of Central Europe, keepers at Prague’s leading zoological park have turned to a simple but effective solution: massive quantities of ice to protect their animal residents from dangerous extreme temperatures. On Thursday, as forecasts predicted peak temperatures would climb to 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by mid-afternoon, zoo teams rolled out ice beds across outdoor enclosures, giving heat-sensitive animals a much-needed escape from the sweltering conditions.

    Among the first to take advantage of the cooling treat were 16-year-old polar bear twin brothers Aleut and Gregor. Born in Germany’s Nuremberg Zoo and now long-term residents of Prague, the pair immediately began rolling and playing in the beds of ice cubes, combining essential heat relief with an entertaining enrichment activity. “The bears cool off with it and at the same time it’s an enrichment of their life in the zoo,” explained Filip Mašek, the official spokesperson for Prague Zoo.

    The ice cooling program is not a new initiative for the facility. Mašek noted that the zoo first launched the practice two years ago, a proactive adjustment to the growing impacts of climate change, which has steadily increased the number of extreme heat days across Central Europe each summer.

    Of all the zoo’s residents, the polar bears have proven to be the biggest fans of the ice protocol. Though they have adapted to the region’s temperate European climate over their 16 years in the region, they still benefit greatly from the chance to mimic the cold Arctic conditions their species evolved to inhabit.

    This year, the zoo’s original scheduling aligned with long-term seasonal patterns: the ice delivery and distribution plan was set to launch in July and August, the months historically marked by the highest summer temperatures in the Czech Republic. But shifting weather patterns driven by climate change upended that timeline. An unprecedented early heat wave hit Central Europe in late June, bringing the Czech Republic its hottest recorded temperature in history: 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit) on June 28.

    The unseasonal extreme heat forced the zoo to roll out its ice program weeks earlier than planned, and officials say they will adjust their timeline for future years to account for the new normal of earlier heat waves. “The weather keeps surprising us,” Mašek said. “We’ve been taught a lesson,” he added, confirming ice will be prepped and ready for deployment much sooner in 2025.

    While polar bears are the most enthusiastic users of the ice cooling program, they are far from the only animals that benefit. In previous years, the zoo has distributed ice treats to a range of species, including otters, elephants, and parrots. Gorillas have even received special blocks of ice with frozen fruit hidden inside, combining cooling relief with a foraging enrichment activity. For other species better adapted to warm temperatures, the zoo provides additional cooling options including access to shaded enclosures, indoor climate-controlled habitats, and shallow pools for swimming.

  • Chelsea signs France center back Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace

    Chelsea signs France center back Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace

    LONDON – In one of the most high-profile moves of the current Premier League transfer window, Chelsea has finalized the acquisition of French international center back Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace, the club confirmed Thursday. The deal is reportedly valued at 52 million British pounds, equivalent to approximately $70 million.

    Lacroix, who recently returned to club action after representing France at the World Cup, has signed an eight-year contract that will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2032. This transfer marks Chelsea’s third major incoming signing of the window, following the earlier arrivals of attacking player Morgan Rogers and young defender Marco Palestra under new manager Xabi Alonso. According to transfer market reports, Alonso is also continuing to pursue senior targets including forward Danny Welbeck and midfielder Jordan Henderson to strengthen his squad ahead of the new season.

    In comments released after the deal was announced, Lacroix expressed his excitement over the move, highlighting alignment with the new manager’s vision for the club. “When I spoke with the manager, I saw that we have the same direction and desire for this club,” he said. “We want to win. When you see the quality of the players here, everything we have around the club, it’s something that we can achieve. The ambition is to lift trophies, and I can’t wait to contribute.”

    The 26-year-old defender has rapidly established himself as one of the Premier League’s top center backs during his short tenure at Crystal Palace. During his time at Selhurst Park, he helped the club claim three major honors: the UEFA Conference League, the FA Cup, and the FA Community Shield. Lacroix’s professional career began at French lower-league side Sochaux, before he moved to German Bundesliga club Wolfsburg, and eventually made his switch to Crystal Palace in 2024.

  • Bank of England keeps key rate at 3.75% for the fifth time this year

    Bank of England keeps key rate at 3.75% for the fifth time this year

    LONDON – The Bank of England has opted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.75% for the fifth consecutive occasion in 2026, following a sharper-than-forecast decline in domestic inflation that gave monetary policymakers room to evaluate the economic fallout of renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. The bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee delivered a split 6-3 vote in favor of the rate hold, a outcome that aligned with the projections of a majority of leading economists. The central bank has held rates steady at 3.75% since December 2025, after implementing four consecutive rate cuts through that year.

    This divided vote underscores the growing rift among central banking authorities globally, as institutions grapple with two competing pressures: inflation that has remained stubbornly above long-term targets, and rising fears that the escalation of conflict in Iran will trigger a new wave of global price hikes. The decision comes one day after the U.S. Federal Reserve similarly kept its key policy rate unchanged within a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, with Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh stating the central bank “will not hesitate to act” to keep inflation anchored.

    In its official summary of Thursday’s deliberations, the Bank of England committee emphasized that the full impact of the new energy market shock on the U.K. economy remains difficult to forecast. “The interest rate changes required to meet the 2% inflation target will depend on the scale and duration of the shock, and how it propagates through the wider economy,” the statement added.

    Three dissenting committee members argued that the potential inflationary impulse from the recent sharp jump in global energy prices is too large to overlook, even though earlier energy price spikes from the initial conflict have not yet fed through to broader domestic price growth or elevated wage demands in the U.K. All three policymakers backed a 25 basis point rate increase that would push the benchmark to 4%.

    Committee member Huw Pill, one of the three voting for a hike, outlined his concerns: “I remain concerned about more insidious second-round effects driven by catch-up dynamics in wage and price setting. While these may be slower to emerge, they could prove more lasting and create greater intrinsic inflation persistence.”

    Adjusting central bank benchmark interest rates – which act as the base for consumer and commercial loan rates as well as credit card interest – is the primary tool central banks use to manage inflation. Higher borrowing costs tend to dampen consumer and business spending, which pulls overall price levels down, while lower rates stimulate borrowing, spending and upward pressure on prices.

    New official data from the U.K. Office for National Statistics shows consumer price inflation slowed to 2.6% in the 12 months ending June, down from 2.8% in May. While the decline was larger than economists had projected, it marks the 21st consecutive month that inflation has stayed above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

    Renewed military clashes between the U.S. and Iran this month have sent global oil prices soaring, driven by widespread market concerns over disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint that, in peacetime, carries roughly one-fifth of all globally traded crude oil and natural gas. After a ceasefire between the two nations broke down, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, spiked from less than $71 per barrel three weeks ago to more than $100 per barrel on July 23. By Thursday, Brent was trading at approximately $92 per barrel, still well above pre-conflict levels.

    Beyond geopolitical and energy risks, economists across the U.K. are also closely monitoring the fiscal policy agenda of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Analysts are assessing whether Burnham’s policy proposals to shield households from energy price increases and stimulate sluggish economic growth will add additional upward pressure to domestic inflation.

  • Watch: Giant iceberg turns over near Greenland’s coast

    Watch: Giant iceberg turns over near Greenland’s coast

    A stunning and alarming moment of climate change in action has been caught on camera, as a colossal iceberg flipped completely over in coastal waters near Greenland. The raw, eye-opening footage was recorded by a casual observer in the area, who happened to be in position to document the rare, dramatic event when the massive frozen structure shifted and collapsed. As the iceberg rolled, the sudden movement displaced enormous volumes of seawater, sending a large, churning wave surging across the nearby fjord. The video quickly spread across social media platforms after being shared, drawing widespread attention to the ongoing, rapid changes occurring to Greenland’s ice sheet amid rising global temperatures. Glaciologists note that iceberg calving and overturning are not entirely unusual events, but the increasing frequency of large iceberg break-offs in the region serves as a visible, tangible indicator of accelerating ice melt driven by anthropogenic climate change. Unlike steady glacier melt that occurs gradually and is often harder for the public to observe, a full flip of a giant iceberg creates an immediate, dramatic visual of how dramatically Arctic ice systems are shifting in response to a warming planet.

  • Suspected Kinahan gang leader faces extradition

    Suspected Kinahan gang leader faces extradition

    After months of legal challenges, suspected Irish transnational crime cartel leader Daniel Kinahan has lost his battle against extradition, and is now set to be returned to Ireland to face criminal charges within weeks, senior law enforcement sources have confirmed to BBC News NI.

    Kinahan was first taken into custody in Dubai this past April under an international arrest warrant issued by Irish judicial authorities, but immediately launched formal appeals to block his transfer. Those appeals have now been fully exhausted, clearing the final legal hurdle for his extradition. Irish national police, known as An Garda Síochána, anticipate that United Arab Emirates officials will imminently sign the formal extradition paperwork to officially initiate the transfer process.

    Once the extradition is approved, moving Kinahan back to Irish territory will require a large-scale coordinated security operation involving both Gardaí and the Irish Defence Forces, given the high-profile nature of the case and Kinahan’s alleged criminal connections.

    The case against Kinahan stretches back years, and has drawn international attention. In April 2022, the United States government imposed formal economic sanctions on Kinahan and his close family members after U.S. authorities formally named them as the core leadership of the Kinahan Organised Crime Cartel, a transnational network focused primarily on international drug trafficking.

    Kinahan also built high-profile connections to the global sports industry through MTK Global, his former boxing management firm that at its peak represented more than 100 professional fighters, including heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former two-division world titleholder Carl Frampton. The company has since ceased operations.

    The long-running criminal feud between Kinahan’s network and rival Hutch crime gang has been one of the bloodiest in modern Irish criminal history, claiming 18 lives to date. The feud made global headlines in 2016, when gunmen aligned with the Hutch gang opened fire at a boxing weigh-in event at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in an attempted assassination of Kinahan. Kinahan escaped unharmed, but associate David Byrne was killed, and two other people were wounded in the attack. Byrne’s 2016 funeral is the event where the above image of Kinahan was originally captured.

    Kinahan is not the first senior figure from his organization to be extradited from the UAE to Ireland. Earlier this year, Sean McGovern, described by prosecutors as a “senior lieutenant” in the cartel, was extradited under the same bilateral agreement between the two nations. Just last month, McGovern was convicted of directing a criminal organization and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

    In an official statement provided to BBC News NI, An Garda Síochána confirmed it was aware of Kinahan’s ongoing detention in the UAE, and noted that all procedural questions related to his arrest remain under the purview of Emirati authorities at this stage. The force reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to pursuing high-level organized crime suspects regardless of where they flee. “An Garda Síochána has been steadfast in our determination that we would pursue those allegedly involved in serious organised criminal activity, wherever they go,” the statement said. “An Garda Síochána has developed many major international partnerships in our efforts to target transnational organised crime groups.”

  • French authorities say 4 people have died trying to cross the Channel

    French authorities say 4 people have died trying to cross the Channel

    PARIS – French authorities confirmed Thursday that four people have lost their lives in two distinct dangerous small-vessel journeys attempting to cross the English Channel, a route that has become one of the deadliest migration corridors in Western Europe in recent years.

    The first fatal incident unfolded early Thursday morning, after authorities received an emergency alert regarding a distressed boat approximately 6 a.m. local time. The maritime prefecture responsible for overseeing the English Channel and North Sea quickly deployed search and rescue teams to the area near the coastal city of Dunkirk. First responders successfully pulled all three people from the disabled vessel and brought them to shore, but medics could only confirm that the three had already died after reaching land.

    A second, unrelated tragedy occurred the previous evening off the coast of Hardelot, a small coastal town in France’s northwestern Pas-de-Calais region. According to local prefecture officials, the small migrant boat capsized in rough channel conditions late Wednesday. “The provisional death toll stands at one man, estimated to be between 30 and 40 years old,” the prefecture stated in an official release. Six additional people on board, including a one-year-old toddler, suffered only minor injuries and have already received medical attention from emergency response teams.

    French judicial authorities have launched formal investigations into both incidents to establish the exact cause of death and identify any individuals responsible for organizing the dangerous unauthorized crossings. The English Channel has seen a surge in irregular migration attempts over the past decade, with thousands of people risking their lives each year in often overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels organized by people-smuggling networks. This latest string of deaths brings renewed attention to the ongoing political and humanitarian challenges surrounding migration across the narrow body of water separating France and the United Kingdom.

    Associated Press has full ongoing coverage of global migration developments available on its dedicated news hub.

  • Watch: Strikes near Zelensky’s hometown as hundred of drones launched

    Watch: Strikes near Zelensky’s hometown as hundred of drones launched

    A devastating wave of Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine has claimed eight civilian lives, including three children, local Ukrainian authorities confirmed this week. The assault, which involved hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles launched against targets across the country, also brought new violence close to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s central Ukrainian hometown of Kryvyi Rih, where regional officials reported strike activity in surrounding areas.

    Local emergency services responded quickly to the aftermath of the attacks, working to extinguish fires, clear rubble from damaged residential and infrastructure sites, and rescue any civilians trapped in affected buildings. The three child victims — two boys and one girl — were among those killed in the coordinated assault, a detail that has underscored the ongoing human cost of Russia’s full-scale invasion, now in its third year.

    The large-scale drone offensive is the latest in a months-long pattern of Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian population centers and critical infrastructure, particularly as Ukraine works to shore up its air defense capabilities with support from Western allies. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that Russia regularly stockpiles missile and drone components to carry out mass attacks ahead of expected Ukrainian counteroffensive operations and during key seasonal periods, such as the winter energy season.

    As of the latest updates, additional details on the full scope of infrastructure damage and the number of injured civilians are still being compiled by regional authorities. The strike near Zelensky’s hometown comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure additional military aid for Ukraine from Western partners, with negotiations over long-term support packages still ongoing in the United States and European Union.

  • EU lays out $11.4 billion for 7 AI gigafactories as it aims to catch up with US and China

    EU lays out $11.4 billion for 7 AI gigafactories as it aims to catch up with US and China

    BRUSSELS – In a bold push to cement its technological autonomy and narrow the competitive gap with the United States and China, the European Union’s executive branch announced Thursday a €10 billion ($11.4 billion) public funding package to support private companies in constructing seven large-scale artificial intelligence manufacturing facilities, known as AI gigafactories.

    The European Commission expects the public investment to catalyze an additional €20 billion ($22.8 billion) in private sector funding, creating a total €30 billion injection into Europe’s lagging AI infrastructure. Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees the bloc’s push for tech sovereignty, framed the initiative as a non-negotiable strategic priority. “Access to massive, scalable computing power within AI gigafactories is a strategic necessity for Europe as AI development accelerates globally,” Virkkunen noted.

    The urgency behind Brussels’ tech sovereignty agenda stems from growing geopolitical concerns over reliance on non-European technology providers. EU leaders argue that foreign control over critical AI infrastructure could be “weaponized” against European interests, compounded by trade tensions with the U.S. over regulatory policy and Chinese restrictions on exports of critical minerals required for AI chip production.

    Under the new plan, companies are now eligible to bid for contracts to build the gigafactories, each of which will be required to host at least 100,000 cutting-edge AI chips. Once operational, the facilities will deliver roughly four times the computing capacity of the most powerful existing data centers operating across the EU today. Currently, the bloc maintains a network of 19 smaller AI data centers stretching from Finland to Spain; the seven new gigafactories will more than double the EU’s total AI computing power.

    Independent assessments and EU data underscore the severity of the bloc’s current AI gap. A 2025 analysis from the U.S. Federal Reserve found Europe trails far behind both the U.S. and China in key infrastructure sectors required for advanced AI development. China boasts massive excess power generation capacity to support energy-intensive data centers, while the U.S. attracts the overwhelming majority of global private AI investment. A June Commission report presented to the European Parliament added that Europe produces almost none of the millions of specialized components needed for AI data centers, and energy costs for facility operations in the bloc can run two to three times higher than in the U.S. or China.

    Without targeted investment to expand domestic capacity, the report warns, European businesses and government bodies will remain dependent on U.S. AI providers – a dynamic that undermines homegrown European AI firms trying to compete at the cutting edge of the industry. Currently, all five of the EU’s top cloud service providers are American. “Dependence on hyperscale cloud and AI computing service providers, particularly for highly critical use cases, will continue to expose data to third-country access and carry risks to service continuity, endangering operational autonomy,” the report stated.

    To date, the largest existing AI data center in the EU is operated by French AI firm Mistral at its Paris campus. Mistral, developer of the Le Chat chatbot, has yet to match the pace of innovation and scale set by leading U.S. players like OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, and top Chinese competitors such as DeepSeek. While high-profile European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron have publicly warned about the bloc’s lack of competitive homegrown AI companies, widespread public anxiety persists across the continent over both the economic disruption and privacy risks posed by rapidly advancing AI technology.

    The Commission emphasized that all AI products developed using the expanded gigafactory network will be required to adhere to the EU’s strict regulatory standards for data protection, safety, security and ethics, aligning with existing bloc rules including the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act.

    The initiative comes amid growing global scrutiny of the environmental footprint of large-scale AI infrastructure. In June, 40 mayors from major cities across the world – from Phoenix, U.S. to Melbourne, Australia – signed a global pact to mitigate the negative impacts of AI data center construction on local natural resources, energy prices and municipal climate targets.

  • Thousands evacuated in Crete as European wildfires continue to rage

    Thousands evacuated in Crete as European wildfires continue to rage

    A devastating wave of wildfires fanned by hurricane-force winds has torn through Southern Europe, leaving three firefighters dead and forcing mass evacuations across multiple countries, with the popular Greek tourist island of Crete among the hardest-hit regions.

    On the Greek island of Crete, roughly 8,000 residents and tourists were evacuated overnight from the Rethymno region, where an out-of-control wildfire that ignited Wednesday has expanded to a 15-kilometer active front. Wind gusts in the area have peaked at 125 kilometers per hour, reaching level 11 on the Beaufort scale, classified as violent wind. These extreme conditions have hampered suppression efforts, grounding aerial firefighting aircraft on Thursday morning and preventing crews from gaining the upper hand.

    The disaster has already claimed three lives: two Crete-based firefighters, 58-year-old Emmanouil Stratidakis and 25-year-old Pantelis Diamantakis, who became trapped and died near Krya Vrysi, and a third firefighter killed near the Peloponnese port of Gytheio. The Greek Fire Service has issued official condolences, and the two fallen Crete firefighters are scheduled for burial Thursday.

    As of Thursday, the full scale of property damage remains unconfirmed, though multiple residential structures and large swathes of agricultural land have already been destroyed by the blaze. Roughly 224 firefighters, supported by 53 ground engines, 11 specialized response units and two aircraft, have been deployed to contain the Rethymno fire. Evacuated civilians have been relocated to temporary emergency shelters in neighboring municipalities, with dedicated provisions arranged for visiting tourists who make up a large share of Crete’s mid-summer population.

    Crete’s wildfire crisis is part of a broader outbreak of extreme heat and wildfire activity across the European continent, driven by long-term warming that has made the region the fastest-warming continent on Earth, according to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Europe has warmed twice as fast as the global average, fueling more frequent, intense heatwaves, severe drought conditions, and catastrophic wildfire seasons.

    The crisis extends far beyond Greece. In Spain, 600 people have been evacuated from a wildfire burning near the Portuguese border in Zamora, while a separate blaze in Ávila province has burned more than 43,000 hectares over the past week, making it the largest recorded wildfire in Spanish history. Fires near Madrid have stopped spreading, allowing thousands of displaced residents to return to their homes. Neighboring Portugal has reported five injuries from a fire in the eastern town of Valpaços.

    In Turkey, hundreds of homeowners have been evacuated as wildfires spread across the region, but authorities report most blazes there have now been brought under control. In France, the country’s largest wildfire since 1949, which has destroyed 42,000 hectares of land in the Gironde region, has not spread for three consecutive days. Cooler temperatures and forecast rain for Thursday are expected to further help suppression efforts, though several southeastern French regions have been placed under orange heatwave alerts starting at midday local time.

    Meteorological forecasts warn that the high-risk fire conditions currently concentrated in Southern Europe will shift toward central Europe over the coming week, with Greece and Turkey expected to remain among the most severely impacted regions.

  • Missile that left crater deep inside Poland was probably Russian – Polish PM

    Missile that left crater deep inside Poland was probably Russian – Polish PM

    In an incident that has escalated cross-border tensions amid Russia’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine, a presumed Russian missile crashed into a rural field in eastern Poland early Thursday, leaving a sizable crater deep within Polish territory, official statements confirmed.

    The crash site, located a short distance from the small village of Tarnawa Kolonia, sits roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Poland’s border with Ukraine. The impact left a crater stretching 10 meters (33 feet) across, and the incident unfolded concurrently with a massive Russian air assault targeting the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

    Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced preliminary findings during an emergency gathering of government officials in Lublin, noting that all available evidence points to the object being a Russian Kh-101 missile. “All the indications are that it was a Russian Kh-101 missile, but we want to be 100% certain about the type of missile and who launched it,” Tusk said, emphasizing the need for a definitive, evidence-based conclusion before formal attribution.

    Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had previously characterized the incident as an incursion of NATO airspace, confirming his assessment that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had strayed into Polish territory during Russia’s large-scale strike on Ukrainian infrastructure.

    Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz added context to the overnight activity, revealing that around 20 airborne objects were detected near Polish airspace during the overnight hours. Specialized pyrotechnical experts are currently conducting detailed forensic analysis to confirm the exact identity and origin of the object that impacted near Tarnawa Kolonia.

    Military records show that Poland’s armed forces first detected the rogue object at approximately 03:40 local time Thursday (01:40 GMT). An F-16 fighter jet was immediately scrambled to intercept the object, but it disappeared from Polish radar systems just minutes after detection.

    Prime Minister Tusk confirmed that, despite the destructive impact, no casualties have been reported from the incident. Even so, Polish authorities are treating the incursion and crash as a high-priority serious event, given its implications for regional security and NATO’s collective defense commitments.

    The incident comes just hours after Tusk held a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Lublin Wednesday evening, during Zelensky’s return trip to Ukraine from high-level talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump.

    This is a developing breaking news story, with official investigations still ongoing. Additional details will be released as forensic analysis is completed and more information becomes available to authorities.