news

The UK and Europe have enjoyed their most dramatic solar eclipse for nearly 30 years, with millions thought to have witnessed the once-in-a-generation event.

Those watching the astronomical phenomenon from the UK were treated to a partial eclipse which peaked shortly after 19:00 BST, when most saw more than 90% of the Sun covered by the Moon.

But parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain experienced the complete darkness and spectacle of a total eclipse.

Large crowds at viewing sites across the UK and Europe reacted with gasps and cheers, with astronomy enthusiasts saying it serves as a reminder of how “amazing” the universe is.

The path of the total eclipse began at the northern tip of Siberia in Russia, far away from crowds and telescopes.

But it soon began curving around the Arctic Ocean arriving in Iceland in the early evening before sweeping southwards to treat the UK to part of its wonder

The partial eclipse began at about 18:00 BST in northern Scotland and just before 18:20 on the south coast of England.

It was imperceivable at first, but for those blessed with cloud-free skies, crowds noticed the Moon nibbling away at the Sun.

Atletico Madrid have agreed a £34.2m (40m euros) fee to sign Cristian Romero from Tottenham.

The 28-year-old is set to become Atletico’s fourth signing of the summer, while Spurs will also retain a 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.

Argentina international Romero was the subject of interest from Premier League champions Arsenal in recent days, but Tottenham did not want to sell their captain to their north London rivals.

He leaves Tottenham after five seasons, having made 156 appearances for them, scoring 13 times, following an initial campaign on loan from Atalanta in 2021.

The centre-back played for Argentina during their run to the World Cup final this summer, missing just one game.

Romero was scheduled to return to pre-season with Spurs in the coming week after being given extra time off following the tournament in North America.

He captained the side last season as Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League.

Having signed permanently from Atalanta in a £42.5m deal, Romero became a key figure in their defence.

The news will be a blow to Spurs fans who are also set to lose Djed Spence to Inter Milan, who are in advanced talks to sign the England full-back in a £25.6m (30m euros) deal.

With the additions of midfielders Kang-in Lee and Morten Hjulmand and left-back Alejandro Grimaldo, Atletico are set to take their transfer spending over £100m this summer should they complete the Romero deal.

Head coach Diego Simeone is aiming to strengthen his squad after they finished fourth in La Liga last season, with Villarreal beating them to third place.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Leavitt is departing her role to spend more time with family after giving birth to her second child, according to Trump.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will be departing her role at the end of the month to prioritise her family, United States President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social.

“Karoline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018,” Trump wrote in a post on Wednesday, revealing the staffing shake-up.

He noted that Leavitt would remain one of his “top outside advisors” and an “influential voice within the Republican Party”.

Leavitt is the latest in a series of senior Trump officials to step down from his second administration.

Since the start of this year, high-level figures like former Attorney General Pam Bondi and ex-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have been fired.

Other officials — including former Secretary of Labour Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer and Todd Lyon, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — have resigned amid scrutiny over their leadership.

Leavitt’s departure, however, comes on the heels of her maternity leave. She and her spouse Nicholas Riccio gave birth to their second child, a baby girl named Viviana, in early May.

The 27-year-old stepped away from her duties as White House press secretary in late April. She returned to the White House podium for her first formal press briefing in mid-July.

“Karoline has been one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office”, Trump said in his post.

He added that Leavitt would continue to serve his administration as the Republican Party seeks to “conclusively win the Midterm Elections” in November.

This is a developing story. More details to come.

The White House defended reports it planned to spend nearly a $1bn on controversial construction projects.

The Trump administration has responded to controversy over construction and expansion projects at the White House by saying the work was “long-overdue and necessary” and “inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets”.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has long insisted construction is being funded by private donors and is necessary for security reasons. But on Wednesday, The Washington Post cited documents it obtained that showed the administration was planning to spend nearly $1bn on the construction work, which includes a large new ballroom to replace much of the White House’s East Wing.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle, in a statement to Al Jazeera, cited recent security incidents, including attempted attacks on the president and events around the 250th anniversary of US independence, as reasons for the work.

Ingle said the work was being done in coordination with the Secret Service and White House Military Office. He also said approximately $400m in funding for the new ballroom was coming from “President Trump and generous American patriots”.

About $875m has been put into the White House Repair and Restoration account, which typically has only several million dollars and is used for routine maintenance and upkeep. Some $500m of that money came from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office, tasked with securing the president and his family, as well as top US officials. Another $305m, according to The Post, came from private donations, while the provenance of another $70m was not indicated.

The White House reconstruction project has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as courts, over concerns that vested interests, including private businesses seeking government contracts, are paying for the work in exchange for government favours. A federal judge in Washington, DC, last week ordered a halt to work specifically for the ballroom, saying it needed Congressional approval under existing law. In June, the advocacy group Public Citizen said it found corporate donors to the project had received more than $50bn in government contracts during the previous six months.

The U.S. needs to change the way it tracks and defends against future missile threats, the deputy commander of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) said on Tuesday. The need to do so comes as changes in missile technology are moving faster than the current defeat system can keep up with.

“Historically, if you start from the high end here, missile defense and missile warning were operating on separate and distinct stovepipe networks,” Lt. Gen. Rick Zellman said during a panel at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium (SMD) in Huntsville, Alabama, attended by TWZ. “Missile warning, of course, was going to detect a launch and let people know something’s coming inbound and see a duck and cover and whatnot, and missile defenders were looking to get a little bit more fidelity in their track and be able to shoot down an incoming missile,” he continued. “But today we don’t really have any ballistic missiles. Everything is maneuvering. Everything is complex, and so we can’t provide warning without providing a lot more observations on these missiles.”

As a result of the evolution in missile technology, “the lexicon that we’re starting to see is missile tracking, right?” the general proffered. “And so missile warning and missile defense are really coming together in that realm. Missile warning was a space legacy mission area, and of course missile defense is missile defense. And you can see how these things are coming together. So really, the distinction between missile warning is almost obsolete at this point.”

The U.S. military has space-based early warning sensors that are integrated into its existing sensing, and has been for decades. But these warn of launches, they generally don’t track a weapon throughout its flight cycle. For some years now, work has been underway to substantially expand on space-based missile defense capabilities, to include the start of the fielding of new satellite constellations to help track ballistic missiles, as well as hypersonic boost-glide vehicles and other threats, during the mid-course portion of their flights. This is on top of a major push to move other kinds of terrestrial sensing to orbital layers, some of which could potentially have a secondary missile defense role.

To achieve the objective of fusing missile warning and tracking functions together, “we have to leverage a couple of really good partners,” Zellman stated, pointing to two in particular. One is the Space Development Agency (SDA), tasked with quickly delivering needed space-based capabilities to the U.S. military. The other is the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), charged with developing, deploying, and sustaining layered and integrated missile defense capabilities.

The SDA, noted the general, “is developing a number of missile-tracking satellites as part of their tranches that they’re launching.” The MDA, meanwhile, has “a long history of integrating battle management,” Zellman discussed.

“So those two together are really helping Space Command take separate disparate stovepipe information and bring it together,” he stated.

“It also has to talk about decision speed, and this really is going to require us to look at more than man-in-the-loop [MITL], and maybe a man on the loop [MOTL] situation,” he noted. MITL is when a human is fully engaged in assessing and controlling the operation compared to MOTL, which usually relies on more heavily automated systems where the human approves critical decisions, usually based on distilled data presented by the system. AI is becoming a large part of making that possible in an increasingly successful way.

The reason to make this change, Zellman explained, is that “we have to make these decisions faster, and that data flow has to be able to enable our layered defenses – whether that’s coming from a THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense], or a Patriot, or directed energy, or SM-3, or space-based interceptors in the future – all that is going to be dependent on our decision speed.”

“At the heart of all this for the United States Space Command is one of our unified command plan responsibilities, and that is as a global sensor manager,” the general said. 

“We don’t use sensors dedicated to a single mission,” he explained. “They may have originally been conceived to do space domain awareness or missile warning, or in some cases, missile defense, but we try to take the goodness of all those sensors and use them for all three of those mission areas.”

Under SPACECOM, “we take those sensors and we dynamically task them and prioritize accordingly, so we can support multiple commands around the globe. And that really, once again, gets to the theme about defending at home and abroad is being able to support these multiple commands simultaneously.”

The command’s “modern systems, whether it’s a long-range discrimination radar or some of our systems that have been around a little bit longer – like an upgraded early warning radar – they’re all inherently multi-mission,” Zellman put forth. “A single radar can see an object in space and give me space domain awareness information, and a little bit later it can see a missile launch and provide warning, and then hopefully down the road a bit more… provide essentially a track so that we can shoot an interceptor at it and kill it.”

“All these three things can be done in the same duty cycle with that same system, and so we have to be able to dynamically task these systems to ensure that whichever is the priority mission at that time is the one that is being serviced,” the general cautioned. “Historically, space domain awareness information went to space operators, and I would argue missile warning information probably went to both space operators and the missile defense community. But today, that information has to all be put in one data location, and we pull the information we need for the mission we have at hand.”

Long Range Discrimination Radar Capabilities

“We recognize that what we do in space at Space Command is really fundamental to what the missile defense community has to do for missile defense,” Zellman vocalized. “So that really talks about the high end. Let’s talk about the low end.”

Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and Joint Task Force-Gold “mentioned some of this today,” Zellman noted, referring to an earlier SMD panel. “We see, I think, the low end on Epic Fury. Sure, the missiles are more high end, but we’ve seen our adversary employ a number of one-way attack systems that are coupled with these ballistic missile volleys, and we are really at this point in the history of warfare because of the democratization of space.”

“Space isn’t a sanctuary,” the general shared. “It’s no longer just the playground of nations with a lot of money. The commercialization of space has created what many call essentially a transparent battlefield. And because I can see everything all the time with commercial ISR, it’s given our adversaries capabilities that they haven’t had in the past.” 

“That ISR [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance], if you couple it with a platform that has access to GPS or some other PNT [position, navigation and timing] system, and then you add in another layer of over-the-horizon comms, like say from an Iridium or a Starlink, and you have a pretty lethal asymmetric weapon system that our adversaries can get a hold of.”

Regardless of how much integration and automation occurs, it’s still a people business in Zellman’s eyes.

“So whether it’s a combination volley of attack drones or hypersonic glide vehicles, the mission at SPACECOM remains the same, and that’s to synchronize global missile defense and space domain awareness using a common set of information,” Zellman said. “But that synchronization doesn’t just happen in a vacuum; it happens with the joint warfighters that are standing on watch.”

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

In one of the more unusual examples yet of where Ukraine is sourcing military hardware, a Danish military museum has begun transferring vehicles from its own collection for use in the war against Russia. Panzermuseum East, a privately run museum in Denmark specializing in Soviet and Warsaw Pact armor, announced that it has delivered its first batch of armored vehicles to Ukraine.

“We have now completed the first shipment of vehicles to Ukraine. The first one to be picked up was our fine BMP-1, and the second was the MT-LB SNAR-10. We hope they’ll last a long time and make a difference,” the museum said on social media today.

The museum describes itself as Scandinavia’s largest collection of vehicles, uniforms, and equipment from the former Eastern Bloc.

The donation includes a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle and an MT-LB amphibious tracked armoured fighting vehicle fitted with the SNAR-10 battlefield surveillance radar. This is an uncommon artillery reconnaissance variant that was designed to detect troop movements, vehicles, and artillery fire while directing friendly fires.

While governments across Europe have emptied Cold War stockpiles to support Kyiv, it is considerably rarer to see museum exhibits making the journey to the front. The transfer underscores the increasingly varied mix of equipment finding its way into Ukrainian service after more than four years of high-intensity warfare.

Entering service in the late 1960s, the BMP-1 is among the most iconic Soviet armored fighting vehicles ever built. Although obsolete by modern standards, Ukraine already operates the type in significant numbers, meaning integrating another example should be straightforward, assuming it remains mechanically sound.

The BMP-1 was a revolutionary design when it appeared, becoming the world’s first true infantry fighting vehicle by combining mobility, armor, and the ability for infantry to fight from within the vehicle. Armed with a 73mm low-pressure gun, a coaxial machine gun, and a 9M14 Malyutka (AT-3 Sagger) anti-tank missile launcher, it was designed to accompany tanks across the battlefield while carrying an eight-man infantry squad. More than 20,000 were built, and the vehicle was exported widely across the Warsaw Pact and beyond, spawning numerous variants and licensed copies.

Today, its armor and armament are outdated, but it continues to be prized on account of its amphibious capability, ease of maintenance, and the availability of extensive stocks of spare parts and upgrade packages.

Despite being more than half a century old, the BMP-1 continues to demonstrate its utility on modern battlefields. Reflecting sustained demand for the Soviet-designed infantry fighting vehicle, Slovakia’s STV Machinery secured a contract to serially produce newly manufactured BMP-1 hulls for an unnamed foreign customer. The company says the hulls will incorporate modern armor materials and updated production techniques, with manufacturing capacity expected to reach up to 100 vehicles annually, underscoring the enduring value of the platform.

Previously, there have been known BMP-1 transfers to Ukraine from Greek stocks (40 BMP-1A1s, delivered from October 2022 onwards), and from Slovak stocks (30 BVP-1s, from November 2022). Another 56 upgraded ex-East German BMP-1s were provided by the Czech Republic.

The more intriguing donation is the MT-LB SNAR-10. Based on the ubiquitous MT-LB multipurpose tracked vehicle, the SNAR-10 carries a ground surveillance radar intended primarily for artillery spotting and battlefield reconnaissance. The system can detect moving vehicles, troop concentrations, explosions, and shell impacts, helping artillery units adjust fire and build battlefield awareness.

Exactly what condition either vehicle is in is unclear. Museum vehicles are often maintained in running condition, particularly at private collections that conduct demonstrations, but they also lack military equipment, sensitive electronics, or functional weapons. The museum has not disclosed whether the vehicles required refurbishment or modification before transfer.

The donation nevertheless reflects a broader trend that has become increasingly apparent throughout the conflict. Ukraine has sourced equipment from virtually anywhere it can be found. Beyond government transfers, Kyiv has received privately donated vehicles, civilian pickups converted into military transports, restored Soviet-era equipment, commercially purchased armored vehicles, and even aircraft and helicopters acquired through unconventional channels.

As traditional Cold War reserves continue to shrink across Europe, previously overlooked sources of compatible Soviet-designed equipment have become increasingly valuable. Private collections, museums, training establishments, and industrial storage yards have all become potential sources of hardware that can be returned to operational service.

The SNAR-10 is especially noteworthy because it represents a relatively niche capability rather than simply another armored hull. Battlefield surveillance radars remain useful assets for locating enemy activity, adjusting indirect fire, and supporting reconnaissance, even if newer drone-based systems increasingly perform many of the same functions. Even if the SNAR-10 is delivered without an operational radar, it would still be useful for its MT-LB chassis.

More broadly, whether these two vehicles ultimately see frontline service, are used for training, or serve as sources of spare parts remains unknown.

However, the museum’s wording (“first shipment”) strongly suggests more donations for Ukraine may already be planned.

Beyond the BMP-1 and SNAR-10 that have now gone to Ukraine, the Panzermuseum East collection remains packed with Warsaw Pact hardware, including T-72 and T-55 main battle tanks, a PT-76 amphibious light tank, a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, BRDM reconnaissance and anti-tank vehicles, BTR-60 command vehicles, and more. The museum also displays dozens of Cold War military trucks, field support vehicles, artillery pieces, and other specialist equipment.

Examples of foreign museums releasing collection vehicles for Ukrainian military use remain uncommon but not unheard of. Ukrainian museums have also returned equipment to military units, based on available reports, as well.

Britain’s Tank Museum did not donate vehicles, but it helped Ukraine by giving Cook Defense Systems — which also produces tracks for the British-made Challenger 2 main battle tank — access to its Soviet vehicle collection, manuals, and physical components to reverse-engineer tracks and sprockets for T-72s, BMPs, and MT-LBs. You can read more about that here.

The departure of these armored vehicles from a Danish museum floor for an active war zone is another reminder of the extraordinary lengths Ukraine and its supporters continue to go to sustain the country’s war effort, and of how almost any usable piece of Soviet-designed equipment can still find new life on today’s battlefield.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

La Liga officials are set to carry out a pitch inspection at Celta Vigo’s Estadio de Balaidos following a suspected fungus outbreak.

Celta are due to host Osasuna on Sunday night in their opening match of the 2026-27 season, kicking off at 20:30 BST.

Following reports in Spain of the outbreak, sources close to La Liga have told BBC Sport that the league are due to visit the 24,870-capacity stadium in Vigo in the next 24 hours to assess if the match can be played as scheduled.

The pitch is said to have been hit by a fungus infection that has damaged the playing surface, with Celta Vigo believed to have requested that the match is postponed.

Meanwhile, opponents Osasuna are said to be open to playing the fixture as scheduled.

Spain’s national team played a friendly against Iraq at the Esadio de Balaidos in June ahead of their successful 2026 World Cup-winning campaign over the summer.

The stadium has been undergoing renovation works for more than a decade, with it planned to be among the 11 Spanish stadia used to co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Morocco.

Once renovation works are completed, the arena is set to increase its capacity to between 40,000 and 44,000.

Celta originally had the option to postpone the match due to striker Borja Iglesias reaching the World Cup final with Spain, but opted not too.

Three La Liga matches that were due to be played on the opening weekend, Valencia v Real Betis, Real Madrid v Real Sociedad and Barcelona v Athletic Club, have all been rescheduled for later in the month due to clubs having players involved in the World Cup final.

Three-quarters of the world has abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, according to Amnesty International.

Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty.

On Tuesday, a majority of the 128-member parliament voted in favour of scrapping capital punishment. Death sentences will be replaced with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour.

Lebanon has observed an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004, but its courts have continued to issue dozens of death sentences.

At the end of 2025, 85 people were facing death sentences, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice’s Directorate of Prisons.

Which countries still have the death penalty?

According to the latest Amnesty International report on death sentences and executions, as of December, close to three-quarters of the world’s countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, meaning they have not carried out executions for the past 10 years.

Some countries have abolished the death penalty for “ordinary crimes” only, which refers to exceptional crimes such as those committed under military law or those committed in exceptional circumstances

Overall, this includes:

• Abolition for all crimes: 113 countries
• Abolition for ordinary crimes only: nine countries
• Abolition in practice: 23 countries
• Retention: 54 countries

The map below highlights where each country stands on capital punishment:

Amnesty International’s monitoring of worldwide use of the death penalty recorded 2,707 executions in 2025, up 78 percent from 1,518 in 2024. Amnesty attributed that spike primarily to executions in Iran, which more than doubled from 972 in 2024 to at least 2,159 in 2025.

Amnesty’s figures exclude what it says are thousands of executions that have been carried out in China. Executions were carried out in 17 countries, consistent with the historical lows seen since 2018.

If European states seize vessels with Russian cargo, Moscow will respond in kind ‘wherever necessary’, says Putin.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has threatened to seize European vessels if European states follow through on plans to seize more commercial ships with Russian cargo.

Putin delivered the warning on Wednesday while on board a Russian cruiser off the Pacific island of Sakhalin, where Russia’s navy was conducting a drill. He said Russia would be ready to carry out its own seizures “wherever we deem it necessary and appropriate,” according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

The statement comes after several European countries intercepted ships suspected of being part of Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet”, carrying Russian oil in contravention of European sanctions.

New sanctions passed last month permit European Union members to sell the oil or any other cargo seized from the ships.

Putin appeared to reference the sanctions, saying some countries are trying to “restrict the movement of vessels belonging to our economic operators” and recently “came up with the idea of possibly seizing our ships and selling off property stolen from us”.

“If these plans are put into practice, we will have to respond in kind,” Putin said in comments carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, calling the moves “piracy and robbery”.

He said “relevant instructions” had already been delivered to Russia’s Ministry of Defence and Pacific Fleet, the naval fleet responsible for Russia’s maritime military interests in the Pacific.

NATO ‘making inroads in Asia Pacific’

Putin also accused the NATO military alliance of making inroads into the Asia Pacific region and heightening tension in the Arctic. “NATO is making inroads into the ‌region, new military-political blocs are being formed, and new weapons systems that pose a threat to Russia are ‌being deployed or are slated for deployment,” the Russian leader said.

Russia’s naval exercises in the West Pacific come a week before joint US-South Korean war games, designed to simulate a possible invasion from North Korea.

Tensions are high in the region amid accusations from Kyiv and Seoul that Pyongyang and Moscow are further intensifying their military cooperation.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of using North Korean missiles in a deadly air raid across Ukraine. A day earlier, he had warned that Moscow was receiving more ballistic projectiles and troops from its ally Pyongyang, a development he said posed dangers not only for Ukraine but for countries in East Asia.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has already sent thousands of troops and plentiful supplies of weapons to support Putin’s four-year invasion.

Former France and Manchester United star Paul Pogba suffers latest injury setback, sparking rumours about his future with Monaco.

Paul Pogba’s future with Monaco could be in doubt after he suffered another injury setback.

The former Manchester United and Juventus midfielder suffered a new injury to his left thigh on Tuesday during the first day of Monaco’s training camp in England.

The 2018 French World Cup winner suffered the injury as the Ligue 1 club trained at the English national football centre at St George’s Park after beating Liverpool in a friendly on Sunday.

The 33-year-old midfielder was only returning to group training after a long spell of right-knee problems.

Pogba has played only one half of football for Monaco in this preseason.

According to several sources close to the matter, the new injury shows Pogba is some way off the level of fitness required to begin the French league season.

There has been widespread speculation that Monaco have begun talks with Pogba’s representatives about buying the player out of the remainder of his contract, which is set to expire at the end of the new season.

After serving 18 months of a four-year ban for doping, Pogba played just six Ligue 1 matches for Monaco last season, totalling 115 minutes on the pitch.

Pogba started his career with United in the English Premier League before the manager at the time, Sir Alex Ferguson, released the midfielder on a free transfer in 2012 after a dispute with the player’s agent.

Juventus stepped in for the then 19-year-old, and he won four consecutive Serie A titles with them and reached the Champions League final before re-joining United in 2016 for a world record transfer fee at the time of $120.2m.

He returned to Juventus on another free transfer in 2022 before his release in 2024, during his ban. Monaco stepped in to hand the Seine-et-Marne-born player his first taste of senior football in his home country in 2025.

Pogba’s last appearance for France came in 2022, in a 5-0 victory over South Africa in an international friendly. It was the last of his 91 caps, during which he scored 11 goals for the team.

His World Cup-winning moment came with France when they defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final of the Russia 2018 tournament, with Pogba scoring his side’s third goal.

Elena Rybakina stages a huge comeback to beat Naomi Osaka and will now play Coco Gauff for a place in the final.

Second-seeded Elena Rybakina fought back from a set and a break down to prevail 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in her Canadian Open quarterfinal against Naomi Osaka in Toronto on Tuesday.

Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon and 2026 ⁠Australian Open champion, will meet fourth-seeded Coco Gauff for a place in the final after the American’s opponent, Belinda Bencic, withdrew due to a hip injury.

In ⁠the first tour-level meeting between Osaka and Rybakina, the Japanese player looked to be cruising to victory after breaking in the opening game and holding that advantage to pocket the first set.

The four-time Grand Slam champion then surged to a 4-2 lead in ‌the second set, but Rybakina rallied and came out on top in a tiebreaker to force the decider.

In the third set, the Kazakh successfully defended four break points before breaking Osaka’s serve in back-to-back games to seize control and seal victory in two hours and 33 minutes.

“This first game of the match was really tough because it cost me the set,” Rybakina said. “In the second ⁠I was just trying to stay closer to the score, ⁠even if I’m losing.

“It’s rare when you don’t play some players for so many years you’re on tour. She’s a great champion. She’s a fighter. I knew it would be a tough match.”

Earlier ⁠on Tuesday, Gauff advanced without striking a ball after Bencic withdrew from their quarterfinal, giving the American more time to ⁠fine-tune her game before the US Open.

The 2023 ⁠US Open champion is into the 16th WTA 1000 semifinal of her career as the 22-year-old chases her first title of the year.

Gauff finished runner-up in Miami and Rome before her Wimbledon campaign ended ‌in a tight semifinal defeat. She has introduced new tactical elements to her game and has looked strong in Toronto, where she has not dropped a set.

The only ‌previous ‌meeting between Gauff and Rybakina was also in Toronto, where the American won in three sets in 2022.

Iran is set to join the New Development Bank (NDB), the development lender established by the BRICS group, Iranian central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said on Wednesday, as Tehran seeks to deepen financial ties with emerging economies amid sweeping international sanctions.

Hemmati made the remarks ahead of a BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors meeting hosted by India, which holds the group’s rotating chairmanship this year.

Iran joined BRICS in 2024 as part of the bloc’s expansion and has since expressed interest in becoming a member and shareholder of the NDB. The bank was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects.

“The most important result of cooperation among BRICS member countries is the establishment of the New Development Bank, and our country will soon become a member of this bank,” Hemmati said, according to Iranian state media.

Iran Seeks Alternative Financial Channels

Membership of the NDB would give Iran another avenue for economic cooperation outside traditional Western dominated financial institutions, although the extent of any benefit would depend on the bank’s ability to operate with a heavily sanctioned Iranian economy.

Iran remains under extensive U.S. and international sanctions and has yet to reach a peace agreement to end its current conflict with the United States and Israel. These pressures have increased Tehran’s incentive to strengthen economic relationships with non-Western powers and reduce its exposure to dollar based financial systems.

The NDB has expanded beyond its original five members to include countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, increasing its role as a financial institution connecting emerging economies.

BRICS Pushes for Local Currency Trade

Hemmati also said Iran supported greater use of national currencies in trade among BRICS members.

BRICS countries have increasingly promoted mechanisms intended to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar, including greater use of national currencies for bilateral trade and financial transactions.

Iran is also seeking bilateral and trilateral monetary cooperation with other BRICS members, Hemmati said.

A Strategic Financial Move for Tehran

Iran’s expected entry into the NDB is significant not simply as a development financing decision but as part of Tehran’s broader effort to build an alternative economic network amid Western sanctions.

For Iran, deeper integration with BRICS could provide additional channels for investment, infrastructure cooperation and financial transactions while strengthening economic ties with major emerging powers such as China, India and Russia. However, membership alone will not remove the restrictions created by U.S. sanctions or guarantee access to international capital.

The move also reflects the broader evolution of BRICS from an economic grouping into a platform through which its members can challenge aspects of the Western dominated financial order. Iran’s participation strengthens that trend, particularly as the group promotes greater use of local currencies and seeks to diversify international financial relationships.

For Tehran, therefore, joining the NDB would represent both an economic opportunity and a geopolitical signal: Iran is seeking to reduce its vulnerability to Western financial pressure by embedding itself more deeply within emerging non-Western economic institutions.

With information from Reuters.

UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast the UK’s power infrastructure had undergone decades of “woeful underinvestment”.

He said he understood the objections of those living nearby, but added the pylons were “crucial” to ensure the National Grid maintained future resilience.

“I totally accept that people might not like that, but it is critical national infrastructure and it has to be built somewhere,” he said.

“Building any kind of infrastructure in these communities does cause disruption. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build any kind of infrastructure and I’m afraid in this country, for too long, we have taken that view, and the result is that we have been held back by not having the infrastructure the country needs.”

Shanks added: “Either we go through decades of not upgrading the grid and take the risk that the grid will actually fail, but we also lose the opportunity of cheaper bills, homegrown power connecting.

“We’re not prepared to take that risk.”

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says Britain’s electricity grid was largely designed for an era when power came from coal and gas-fired power stations, and now needs major upgrades to cope with growing amounts of renewable energy.

Ministers say the lack of capacity means some wind farms are sometimes paid to switch off because there is not enough network infrastructure available to carry the electricity to homes and businesses that need it.

Greg Jackson, chief executive of the UK’s biggest domestic energy supplier, Octopus Energy, said the electricity system is inefficient, brittle and expensive.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the discount scheme was a “positive first step”, adding that last year the UK spent more than £1bn paying wind farms to turn off on windy days.

“We should just be giving that electricity more cheaply to the people and businesses who live in the areas where we’re generating it,” he said.

“By doing that, you’d be able to stop wasting that money and instead put the electricity to use cutting bills for those people. But crucially cutting bills for everybody else as well because it’s less wasteful.”

Ukrainian president also says Russia will use its parliamentary election next month as a pretext to declare a new mobilisation.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv has handed the United States new proposals aimed at ending the four-and-a-half-year war with Russia.

The announcement on Tuesday came amid suggestions by both Ukraine and Russia that US negotiators would soon pay a visit to their two countries.

“We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

He said the US could help strengthen Ukraine’s defences, particularly its air defences, while increasing pressure on Moscow so that Russia prepares “for an end to the war rather than prolonging it”.

The Ukrainian leader offered no details on the proposals.

Talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, have largely stalled since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran.

US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were last in Moscow in January and have not yet visited Kyiv.

Ukraine has repeatedly called for a ceasefire after years of fighting. Russia says it wants a settlement, but any solution must involve Ukraine fully ceding four regions Moscow claims as well as resolving the conflict’s “root causes”.

In his address, Zelenskyy also accused Russia of preparing to use its parliamentary elections next month as a pretext for another large-scale military mobilisation.

“They are preparing for mobilisation in the autumn, immediately after the imitation of parliamentary elections,” Zelenskyy said, as part of a plan to “create the appearance that ⁠Russians supposedly support the war”.

Following the “pseudo-election”, Russian President Vladimir Putin “plans an additional rapid mobilisation of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year, plus another ⁠similar number next year”, he added.

Officials in Moscow, however, have previously denied that another mobilisation is necessary.

Separately on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced that Russia has released former US Marine Robert Gilman after four years in detention.

Trump said Putin agreed to free the 32-year-old “on a humanitarian basis” and that Washington released no prisoners in return.

Gilman was expected to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC, on Tuesday night.

The US had been pressing Moscow to release Gilman so he could receive medical treatment. US officials said he would be evaluated by doctors during the flight before being transferred to a rehabilitation centre in San Antonio, Texas.

Gilman was detained in Russia in January 2022 after an alleged altercation with a police officer and was later designated by Washington as wrongfully detained.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to its lowest level in a week on Tuesday as vessel operators continued to avoid the strategically vital waterway amid ongoing hostilities in the Middle East.

Kpler data showed that only eight vessels were tracked in the strait on Tuesday, below the 10-day average of around 12 and the lowest daily total since August 5. Of those vessels, only one, a coal carrier, had exited the strait, while the remaining ships were still making their way through.Seven vessels entered the waterway, all using the Iranian route, highlighting the limited movement through the strait as uncertainty over its security continues to weigh on shipping activity.

Separate data from LSEG recorded 11 vessel transits on Tuesday, down from 14 the previous day, also pointing to a slowdown in traffic through the crucial maritime passage.

The decline comes as the United States and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks, while prospects for an end to the Iran war appeared to weaken. Tehran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions.

Hormuz Traffic Plummets

The scale of the disruption is stark compared with normal shipping activity. Around 130 to 140 vessels typically passed through the Strait of Hormuz before Iran closed the waterway following the start of U.S.-Israeli attacks on February 28.

The sharp reduction in traffic underscores the growing risks facing international shipping and energy markets as vessels avoid one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

The strait is particularly important for global energy supplies, meaning prolonged restrictions could increase pressure on oil markets and raise transportation and insurance costs for vessels operating in the region.

Red Sea Traffic Holds Up

Shipping activity through the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea showed a different trend.

Kpler data recorded 30 vessels crossing the waterway on Tuesday, above its 10-day average of 25.

The contrasting figures suggest that while some shipping activity continues through alternative routes, the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily affected by the ongoing hostilities and uncertainty surrounding its reopening.

With information from Reuters.

New Delhi, India – The vapour heat treatment (VHT) facility in Rehmanpur village of Lucknow, the capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh – used to sterilise fruit and vegetables – was preparing for the busiest time of the year when Japanese quarantine inspectors turned up in March.

Export documents had been cleared, shipping schedules finalised, and growers in the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat reserved their best Alphonso and Kesar mangoes for export to Japan, one of Asia’s premium markets.

Everything appeared set for the season to begin when production ground to a halt. Japanese inspectors reviewing the fumigation, disinfection and certification procedures raised concerns about the whole process, prompting Japan to suspend imports of the fruits.

However, on March 31, the plant protection authorities in Yokohama sent a formal letter, saying all Indian mango shipments bearing inspection certificates issued on or after March 25 would be barred until inspectors could confirm that operational standards had improved.

It was the first major disruption in India-Japan mango trade in nearly two decades. In 1986, imports of the fruit were barred over fruit fly concerns. Restrictions were lifted in 2006 after the country built VHT infrastructure, strengthened pest surveillance and agreed to annual inspections.

Japan ‘gave us credibility’

The 2026 halt now affects six approved varieties of mango – Alphonso, Kesar, Langra, Banganapalli, Chausa and Mallika – covering the peak export window of April through to June.

Japan imported roughly $1.54m worth of fresh and processed mango products from India between 2025 and 2026. It might appear to be a modest sum, but the Japanese market holds huge significance for the rest of the global trade. Japan pays premium prices for mangoes and the country’s approval signals quality to the rest of the world.

The suspension came at an already challenging time for mango farmers in India. Sustained heatwaves through the Konkan belt had destroyed much of Maharashtra’s Alphonso crop. Geopolitical disruptions in West Asia had pushed freight costs higher, and exporters who had spent years establishing relations with the Japanese suddenly faced cancelled contracts and inventories rotting in storage.

Vikram Shah, a Mumbai-based exporter who shipped about 2.5 tonnes of mangoes to Japan in 2025, highlighted the importance of its market.

“Japan was never our biggest market in terms of quantity, but it was the one that gave us credibility,” Shah told Al Jazeera. “We spent six years building trust with buyers there. I travelled to Osaka twice, sat with importers, visited their cold storage facilities and learned exactly what they expected from us. Relationships like that take years to build and can disappear in a single season.”

Rajesh Patil, an Alphonso grower in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, said his family had cultivated mangoes on a three-acre (1.2-hectare) orchard along the Konkan coast for two generations. The Japanese market, he said, consistently delivered far higher returns than domestic auctions, leading him to invest heavily in meeting Japan’s stringent import standards.

“We upgraded the orchard because Japan rewarded quality,” Patil said. “I spent nearly ₹80,000 [$840] on grading and handling equipment, attended pest-management training sessions, and changed the way we harvest and pack fruit,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The Japanese market paid almost twice what I could earn locally. When you make those investments, you expect the system supporting exports to be as reliable as the fruit you grow.”

China objects to rice

On April 17, China revoked the import licences of three Indian rice exporters after the General Administration of Customs rejected their consignments, claiming traces of genetically modified organisms (GMO).

The exporters disputed the finding, pointing out that their shipments received GMO-free certification before their departure and that the Indian government also said all domestic paddy and rice fields are free of genetic modification.

Rice makes up more than 20 percent of India’s agricultural exports, with a record-breaking $12.5bn of it shipped in the last financial year (2025-26). The three suspended exporters now face an uncertain path back into China, rattling their community.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, notified the companies and, on June 8, published a list of laboratories approved for GMO tests on China-bound shipments.

SK Singh, an agricultural scientist in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera the dispute exposed weaknesses in India’s testing system.

“Our labs built expertise in pesticide residue and aflatoxin testing because that’s what most markets wanted,” he said. “China’s demand for GMO verification calls for a different scale of capacity.”

The exporters’ certificates came from accredited labs even if the certification network remains uneven, he added.

Only a handful of facilities, concentrated in New Delhi and Hyderabad in the southeastern state of Telangana, run the required protein analysis, forcing exporters in northern Punjab and Haryana states to ship samples hundreds of kilometres away.

Fragmented supply chain

There were other warning signs before the crisis hit mangoes and rice.

Hong Kong suspended several Indian spice products over pesticide residues, and testing found quality deviations in nearly 12 percent of the samples. The European Union also raised the inspection frequency on Indian cumin to 30 percent in January 2025, following 312 spice alerts on its rapid alert system in 2024.

Ananya Bose, a food safety scientist in Kochi in the southern state of Kerala, traced the problem to a fragmented supply chain.

“A farmer sells to an aggregator, who sells to a trader, who supplies a processor. Somewhere in that chain, the record of what was sprayed disappears,” she said. “The trail is detailed until the first sale, then it effectively ends.”

Bose has pushed for mandatory digital pesticide records, since regulators abroad expect traceability from field to shipment, a standard many states still treat as optional.

These setbacks may read as isolated incidents, but they expose a gap between India’s agricultural strength and the traceability, food safety and certification standards that Japan, the EU, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada now demand. Those standards are tightened by consumer pressure for transparency, climate-driven pest concerns, food-security strategy and the COVID pandemic.

At the same time, competitors have moved faster, with Thailand building a nationwide traceability programme, Vietnam investing in farmers’ training, and Brazil and Chile pouring money into cold-chain systems.

India’s progress has lagged with just 207 registered pack houses, 72 percent of them concentrated in Maharashtra. Moreover, scarce cold storage facilities and logistical costs eat up roughly 15 percent of export value, almost double that of advanced nations. Small farmers owning less than 2 hectares (5 acres) of land make up more than 86 percent of India’s cultivators, making standardisation difficult at scale.

“India built its strategy around producing more, while premium markets reward proving quality along the way,” agricultural economist Anil Gupta told Al Jazeera.

Gupta pointed to some real gains: recognised laboratories grew from 22 to 89 over the past decade, and approved export certificates climbed from roughly 61,000 to more than 170,000.

“The progress is measurable, but so is the scale of the challenge,” he said. “These improvements mark a beginning, well short of the finish line.”

Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, a senior official in the government’s Department of Commerce, has called for tighter controls on antibiotic residues, pesticides and aflatoxins in spices, tea, fruits and vegetables. He said funds have been set aside to upgrade laboratories, though without a timeline.

“The government is strengthening the system from testing to inspection and traceability. We are tightening controls on antibiotic and pesticide residues and aflatoxins, expanding laboratory capacity, introducing risk-based inspections and using digital systems and rapid screening to identify problems faster. The objective is to help exporters meet stricter global food-safety standards while protecting India’s access to international markets,” said Ghosh.

India still holds just 2.4 percent of global agri-exports despite ranking as the world’s second-largest agricultural producer, with processed exports stuck near 17 percent, against 25 percent in the US and 50 percent in China.

And growers are facing the fallout.

Gujarat’s Kesar mango farmers lost their strongest Japanese buyer. A basmati rice farmer in Haryana’s Karnal said local prices had already dropped 8 percent. And a turmeric processor in Kerala’s Erode said residue testing cost him 15,000 rupees ($157) last quarter, almost 10 percent of his profit.

Agriculture still employs about 42 percent of India’s workforce while producing less than a fifth of the national output.

“This is about far more than a few rejected shipments,” Gupta said. “The countries that succeed will consistently meet the standards global buyers demand.”

Indian farmers have long proven they can grow for the world. The task now is building systems that convince the world to keep buying.

Mérida, August 11, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela concluded a successful performance at the XXV Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The Caribbean nation’s delegation finished fourth in the overall medal table, securing 216 medals: 49 gold, 70 silver, and 97 bronze, finishing just two gold medals behind third-place Cuba. Mexico topped the standings with 407 medals, followed by Colombia with 266 medals. The competition lasted from July 24 to August 8 and featured athletes from 37 countries.

The Venezuelan athletes, with a mix of veterans and up-and-coming talents, enjoyed success across multiple disciplines. Olympic medallists Julio Mayora and Keydomar Vallenilla dominated their respective 73kg and 96kg weightlifting divisions, while 19-year-old phenom Mauricio Loaiza earned a breakthrough gold medal in the 110kg division. Venezuela racked up 11 weightlifting gold medals.

In aquatic events, open-water swimmer Paola Pérez successfully defended her regional title by taking gold in the 10-kilometer individual race, while swimmers María Yegres and Manuel Díaz won the 400-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly, respectively.

Combat sports also delivered critical victories. Venezuelan judokas Anriquelis Barrios and Karen León delivered dominant performances to secure two of the team’s three judo golds.

In women’s boxing, Omailyn Alcalá, Krisandy Ríos, and Maryelis Iriza achieved a historic three-gold sweep. Venezuelan fencers likewise maintained their regional dominance, winning their fifth consecutive title in men’s sabre and second in women’s epee, bolstered by gold in women’s foil by Anabella Acurero.

Rodolfo Monacelli secured first place in bowling, and chess grandmasters Vicmary Pérez and Félix Ynojosa captured top honors in their respective individual events. 19-year-old pole vaulter Ricardo Montes de Oca continued his promising career by soaring to victory in track and field.

Venezuela also achieved a gold medal in modern pentathlon, and surfer Rafael “Nono” Pereira edged out fellow countryman José Joaquín López in an all-Venezuelan shortboard surfing final at Encuentro Beach.

A major highlight of the South American nation’s performance came on the pitch, where Venezuela’s under-20 soccer team captured the gold medal by defeating a heavily favored Mexican squad in the final. The victory marked Venezuela’s third ever gold medal in men’s soccer at the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez issued an official statement praising the national team’s performance at the games.

“The medals won reflect the strength, discipline, passion, and love for this land. My recognition goes to every athlete and coach who gave their all; they fought and dreamed to bring great joy to our people,” she said. 

Following the strong performance, the country’s best in eight years, Venezuela is set to host the XXVI Central American and Caribbean Games in 2030. Sports Minister Franklin Cardillo announced that Venezuela’s candidacy was officially ratified during the closing ceremony in Santo Domingo.

Cardillo affirmed that Venezuelan authorities and regional athletic federations are already coordinating logistics to prepare world-class facilities and host a successful edition of the Games in 2030. Venezuelan athletes will next represent the national tricolor flag at the upcoming South American Games in Argentina starting on September 12.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

The deaths on board the Egyptian-owned Tihamah mark first shipping deaths linked to Houthis since the US-Israel war on Iran began.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has accused the Houthi rebel group of killing at least six people and wounding 10 others in a double-tap strike on a cargo vessel in the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

The attack on the Egyptian-owned Tihamah on Tuesday marks the first shipping deaths linked to the Iran-aligned Houthis since the United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.

Yemen’s Transport Ministry said three Pakistani nationals and one Indonesian national were killed after the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles at the commercial ship, sparking a fire and causing “significant damage” to the vessel.

Yemen’s coastguard said in a separate statement that the Houthis fired another missile at the ship as rescue personnel were evacuating the dead and wounded.

“The attack struck the site of the rescue operation and resulted in deaths and injuries among the forces participating in the response operation,” the coastguard said.

At least two troops were killed in the second strike.

Ten people were wounded in total, including seven crew members, it added.

Houthi-Saudi truce unravels

Yemen’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and called on the international community “to move from condemnation to effective and decisive action” against the Houthis.

There was no official comment from the Houthis.

But the Houthi-run news agency Saba reported that the ‌group had attacked a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in Bab al-Mandeb. It did not name the ship, and there was no immediate Saudi response to the report.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, the US military said it fired on a ship attempting to break its blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The US Central Command said a Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova cargo vessel, but did not say if any crew members were wounded.

The escalation in Yemen follows the collapse of a years-long truce in the country’s civil war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.

The breakdown of the United Nations-backed 2022 truce followed a Saudi air strike on the runway of Sanaa airport on July 13, preventing the landing of an Iranian flight carrying a high-ranking Houthi delegation.

The Houthis then attacked the Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia and announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea. They have also attacked Saudi vessels as well as oil facilities in the kingdom, adding further disruption to the global economy.

The Saudi-led coalition, in turn, has struck Houthi-controlled Hodeidah and Kamaran, Yemen’s largest island in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have also launched attacks on government-held areas in Yemen, including the port city of al-Makha (Mocha) on the Red Sea and the central city of Marib, killing dozens of troops and civilians.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Tuesday said the Houthis launched 10 missiles and four drones during a series of further attacks on sites on the country’s western coast.

The Houthis said they had launched ballistic missile and drone attacks “targeting Saudi military buildups, weapons depots and command posts” in al-Makha and the central Marib province.

The UN has called for restraint, saying the renewed hostilities risk “drawing the country into a broader regional confrontation, with devastating consequences for its people”.